Human Rights Watch


Feb. 3, 2021

[Over 60 Detained, Forcibly Moved from Occupied Territories]

(Beirut) – Turkey and the Syrian National Army have arrested and
illegally transferred at least 63 Syrian nationals from northeast
Syria to Turkey to face trial on serious charges that could lead to
life in prison, Human Rights Watch said today.

Documents obtained by Human Rights Watch show that the detainees were
arrested in Syria and transferred to Turkey in violation of Turkey’s
obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention as an occupying power
in northeast Syria.

“Turkish authorities, as an occupying power, are required to respect
people’s rights under the law of occupation in northeastern Syria,
including the prohibition on arbitrary detention and on the transfer
of people to their territory” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East
director at Human Rights Watch. “Instead, they are violating their
obligations by arresting these Syrian men and carting them off to
Turkey to face the most dubious and vaguest of charges connected to
alleged activity in Syria.”

Turkish authorities and an armed group affiliated with the
Turkish-backed anti-government group, the Syrian National Army,
arrested the Syrian nationals, both Arabs and Kurds, between October
and December 2019 in Ras al-Ayn (Serekaniye), in northeast Syria,
after Turkey took effective control of the area following its
incursion into northern Syria. The men were transferred to detention
facilities in Turkey, where prosecutorial authorities have charged
them with offenses under the Turkish Penal Code, even though the
alleged crimes took place in Syria.

Human Rights Watch was able to obtain and review about 4,700 pages of
official Turkish case file documents pertaining to the arrest of the
63 Syrian nationals in Syria. The documents include transfer and
interrogation records, bills of indictment, and police and medical
reports obtained from lawyers and the Kurdish Committee for Human
Rights-Observer, a group helping the detainees. Human Rights Watch
also interviewed six immediate relatives of eight of the detainees –
five of whose papers were included among the case files – as well as
two of the detainees’ lawyers.

Other evidence and published reports from other groups suggest that
the actual number of Syrians illegally transferred to Turkey could be
almost 200. Reports in pro-government Turkish news sources refer to
recently detained Syrian nationals who have been transferred to
Turkey, indicating that the practice persists.

The official Turkish files in these cases show that the charges
include undermining the unity and territorial integrity of the state,
membership in a terrorist organization, and murder. The charges are
based mainly on unsubstantiated claims that the detainees have links
with the People’s Protection Units, (known by its abbreviation YPG),
the armed wing of the Kurdish-led Democratic Union Party (PYD) in
northeast Syria. The Turkish government and courts regard the PYD and
YPG as one and the same, and closely linked to the armed Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK) with which Turkey has been in a decades’ long
conflict in Turkey.

A Human Rights Watch review of the documents shows that in most cases,
the Turkish authorities have not produced evidence that the detainees
were active fighters with the Kurdish-led authorities or that they
committed crimes. Family members and relatives said that those
detained held administrative or low-level roles within the party.

Family members who witnessed their relatives’ arrests said that at
around 1 p.m. on October 14, 2019, an armed group affiliated with the
Turkish-backed Syrian National Army raided the homes of 15 men,
detained them, and took them to the Syrian town of Mabrouka.
Detainees’ families said that they then lost contact with the men and
it was at least a month and a half before they found out that the
detainees had been transferred to a prison in Şanlıurfa province,
Turkey. Under Turkish regulations, family members need a phone number
registered in Turkey to contact their detained relatives, but as of
December 2020, two families still had not been able to make direct
contact with their loved ones.

In the pro-forma indictments reviewed by Human Rights Watch, Turkish
prosecutorial authorities cite the location of the crime as Şanlıurfa,
Turkey, but the detailed reporting, including some transfer documents,
reveal that any alleged misconduct would have taken place in Syria.
The records, including several detainees’ statements to the
prosecutor, show that detainees were arrested in Syria and then
transferred to Turkey.

Turkey is an occupying power in parts of Northeast Syria that it
invaded in October 2019, as it exercises effective control in the area
without the consent of the Syrian government in Damascus. Article 49
of the Fourth Geneva Convention provides that “individual or mass
forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from
occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power … are
prohibited, regardless of their motive.” The prohibition applies
irrespective of whether those subject to forcible transfer or
deportation are civilians or fighters.

While the indictments claim that everyone captured was a fighter with
the People’s Protection Units (the YPG), in most cases, the case
documents provide no evidence to back this claim. In the few cases in
which evidence was provided, it consists of the discovery of videos
supportive of the armed group on one of the detainees’ phones and in
just two cases, the group’s uniforms.

Family members said that some of those arrested were members of the
Democratic Union Party (the PYD) but held administrative positions and
did not fight with the armed YPG or carry arms.

Four of the relatives said that the Syrian National Army contacted
them soon after the arrests and asked for money to return their
relatives. Only one of the detainees’ families was able to negotiate
and pay a US$10,000 fee to secure his release. That person was not
transferred to Turkey.

The documents include photos of some detainees that show bruises,
split lips, and other signs consistent with ill-treatment. The brother
of one detainee said that his brother told him on the phone that he
was beaten by the Syrian National Army when he was arrested and later
by the Turkish security forces.

Both Turkish forces and the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army are
obligated to abide by international humanitarian and human rights
laws, including the obligation to treat detainees humanely and ensure
that they are provided with the full spectrum of their rights.
International law prohibits arbitrary detention and requires the
authorities to record all detentions properly and to provide anyone
seeking information about a detained person with information about
their status and whereabouts. Detainees should be allowed to contact
their families.

In October 2020, Şanlıurfa assize courts convicted five of the 63
Syrians and sentenced them to life in prison. “My son was sentenced
for 36 years,” the father of one of them said. “They sent the sentence
to [the local appeal court in] Gaziantep to reduce it, but it came
back the same. The judge’s sentence was a black sentence … with such
sentences there’s no mercy.”

The men’s lawyers said that some of the cases are currently under
further appeal.

“Not only have these Syrians been illegally transferred to Turkey for
abusive prosecutions, but in an extraordinarily cruel move, the courts
have imposed the highest sentence possible in Turkey – life without
parole,” Page said.

The Arrests

Human Rights Watch interviewed five relatives of seven detainees who
were among those arrested in October 2019 in one of the villages
shortly after Turkey and the Syrian National Army occupied the area.

The relatives, who witnessed the arrests, said that at about 1 p.m. on
October 14, 2019, two or three vehicles carrying 20 armed men entered
the village. They raided the homes of 15 men and arrested them. In at
least two cases, they beat and harassed relatives who tried to stop
them.

Village residents identified the armed group as a faction of the
Syrian National Army, a coalition of armed opposition groups, backed
by Turkey. One man said that their vehicles carried the name and
emblem of Squad 20 of the Syrian National Army. Four residents said
the leader of the squad was called Abu Barzan.

Three of the relatives said they asked where the armed group was
taking the detained men and they responded that the detainees were
being taken to nearby Mabrouka, which had been under the control of
the Syrian National Army and Turkey since October 9, 2019. The armed
group claimed that those arrested were fighting for the Kurdish-led
administration and told relatives who asked that they were taking them
for a few hours to interrogate them.

Five of the relatives said they lost contact with their relatives a
few days after their arrest and learned a month and a half later that
their relatives had been transferred to Hilvan T-type Prison in
Şanlıurfa, Turkey. Documents show that the transfers to Turkey took
place between October 19 and 21.

The Documents

Human Rights Watch was able to obtain 4,700 pages of official Turkish
government documents that detail the names, indictments, medical
reports, and alleged evidence against 63 Syrian nationals who were
detained in Syria and transferred to Turkey between October 11, 2019
and December 6, 2019. Human Rights Watch received these documents from
the Kurdish Committee for Human Rights-Observer and two of the
detainees’ lawyers.

Human Rights Watch was able to establish that these documents are
authentic Turkish court and police records. They include bills of
indictment, transfer papers, and medical and police reports. While not
all of the 63 individuals had indictments, the bills of indictment
appear to be largely identical pro-forma copies. Many pages in the
indictments describe the history of the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party
(PKK), which Turkish courts link with the People’s Protection Units
(YPG) and the Kurdish-led Democratic Union Party (PYD) in northern
Syria. The files include news reports, but do not link the information
in the news to the people indicted. The indictments have some short
paragraphs about the individuals but without any credible evidence
that they committed crimes.

Illegal Transfers to Turkey

The documents confirm the arrest and transfer of seven of the eight
people whose relatives were interviewed. The indictments against them
nominally cite Şanlıurfa as the location of both their arrest and the
alleged crime despite indicating that the individuals’ alleged
activities took place only in Syria, and including supporting
documentation recording their arrest on Syrian territory and transfer
to Turkey.

Several family members were able to contact detainees directly and
confirmed that the detainees were in Turkey. Others used
intermediaries such as lawyers who were able to track down their
relatives and identify their location.

The indictments indicate that the Turkish prosecutorial authorities
made a de facto decision to extend the authority of the Turkish
governorate of Şanlıurfa to designated areas in Syria.

The transfers also have a direct impact on the detainees’ families,
who cannot contact or visit their loved ones in prison. As the wife of
one detainee who has been in detention for over a year said:

My biggest worry is the kids. Every day they ask me about their
father. And when they ask these questions, I feel sorry for them. I
don’t know what to say because I honestly don’t know when their father
will come back. I’m worried about these long sentences. And if they
come back the children would be all grown up. The household is a
responsibility, and I can’t [manage it] on my own without my husband
by my side supporting me – one hand can’t clap.


Prosecutions and Trials in Turkey

According to the documents, all but 10 of the detained men were
members of or linked with the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the
Kurdish-led political party that formed part of the Kurdish
Self-Administration, which previously controlled the areas in
northeast Syria now under the control of Turkey and the opposition
Syrian National Army. The PYD maintains control of other areas in the
region.

The documents indicate the men are accused of engaging in “actions to
fully or partially bring state territory under a foreign state’s
hegemony or to undermine the independence of the state or its unity or
territorial integrity”, “membership of a terrorist organization,” and
“intentional killing.”

Under Turkish law, undermining the unity and territorial integrity of
the state carries with it the highest sentence under Turkish criminal
law – life in prison without parole. Membership of a terrorist
organization carries a sentence of five to ten years. Documents in
only two cases claim that an individual actively fought with the
People’s Protection Units (YPG), the armed wing of the PYD.

The documents also fail to provide specific information that could
constitute evidence of criminal activity on the part of any of the
accused. In two cases, the discovery of YPG uniforms is listed as
evidence of criminal activity. In another, a video clip of a Kurdish
song about the Syrian city Kobane that showed photos of people in YPG
uniforms, found on the phone of one of the detainees, was accepted by
the Turkish courts as sufficient to sentence him for armed separatism.

While DNA samples and swabs were taken from all the suspects to
establish traces of firearm discharge residue or match with an
unsolved crime, the Turkish authorities have not produced evidence
that the samples taken matched any existing crime.

Relatives of four detainees said that those arrested did not carry
arms and had not fought with the YPG. Some, however, had connections
with the PYD and held administrative positions such as acting as
traffic officers or guards of a facility. The relatives said that, at
the time of their arrest, none were wearing military uniforms, and
none were fighting. Their relatives said that the men did not even
have weapons.

“They’re with the party, but they don’t hold arms, they’re guard
facilities, they’re workers, they’re administrative employees,” one
relative said. “All of them [are] like that. There’s nothing to add,
there’s nothing to hide.”

In October 2020, five of the 63 Syrians, including one whose relatives
Human Rights Watch interviewed, were sentenced to life in prison
without parole for “undermining the unity and territorial integrity of
the state,” their lawyers said. The lawyers said that the convictions
are under appeal. A sixth man was acquitted. The trials of the others
are ongoing and they remain in detention in Turkey, more than a year
after their arrest.

The indictment documents also indicate that all but two detainees have
availed themselves of Turkey’s “effective repentance law” (article 221
of the Turkish Penal Code). Under that law, in exchange for full
disclosure of any important knowledge and full cooperation with the
authorities, a suspect accused of membership in a terrorist
organization can receive a reduced sentence or no sentence at all.

That may account for information in the documents that some of the
detainees allegedly identified others as having links to the
Democratic Union Party or as being in the Asayish (the local police
units of the Democratic Union Party). One lawyer said that Turkish
security forces told his clients that if they cooperated, they would
go free. However, according to case law from Turkey’s Court of
Cassation, charges such as “undermining the unity and territorial
integrity of the state” against the detainees would not enable them to
benefit from the “effective repentance law.”

Shedding further doubt on the credibility of the charges, relatives
said that the Syrian National Army had contacted them by phone and in
public to request payment in return for releasing the detainees. One
relative said his family negotiated a fee of US$10,000 for the release
of his brother who was detained in December 2019. The man was released
in February 2020 after the family paid the fee, and was not
transferred to Turkey.

Three others said they were unable to pay for their relatives’
release. One man whose brother remains in detention said:


Kasim’s financial situation, [and] their life, is below zero. [He] had
to resort to administrative work with this Kurdish organization. When
the Free Syrian Army (FSA) came, they arrested them. [His family]
could not pay to be released. How could they, and they can’t even find
food to eat? To spend on their children? [The Syrian National Army]
took them and wrote reports that they were fighting on the
battlegrounds.


The lack of any credible evidence to support such serious charges,
based on a review of the available documents and relatives’ statements
in at least three cases, supports Human Rights Watch’s concern that
the prosecution of the Syrian nationals is manifestly ill-founded.

Treatment Upon Arrest

In one case, the brother of a released detainee said that his brother
had been beaten badly while in custody in Syria. At least 27 written
identification records of detainees include photos of detainees that
show signs consistent with severe ill-treatment, including bruises on
faces, swollen eyes, broken noses, and split lips.

Family members also said that because their detained relatives were
transferred to Turkey, they were unable to contact them. Two of the
men’s lawyers in Turkey said that while Turkish law requires the
authorities to inform the families of detained people’s whereabouts
and allow families to contact them, they can only contact detainees if
they have a registered phone number in Turkey.

The documents indicate that detainees were only told about these
rights by security forces who served as translators, not official
translators. While the documents indicate that there were at times
lawyers present, nominally to provide legal representation to the men,
it is not clear that they could or did provide any effective legal
representation. The documents also show that several detainees signed
documents waiving their right to contact their families. Detainees’
relatives with whom Human Rights Watch spoke indicated they were
unable to contact their detained relatives directly and had to use
intermediaries or, in other cases, go without information for over a
year.

Turkish Occupation of Northeast Syria

On October 9, 2019, Turkish Armed Forces and the Turkish-backed Syrian
National Army opened an offensive on northeast Syria. By October 12,
2019, UN agencies in the area reported, Turkey and the Syrian National
Army had taken control of Ras al-Ayn (Serekaniye) and surrounding
areas in al-Hasakeh governate, and Tal Abyad (Gire Spi) and Ein Issa
in al-Raqqa governorate.

Turkey had previously announced that it would create a
32-kilometer-wide safe zone in Northeast Syria in response to threats
from the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which the Turkish government
describes as a terrorist group linked to the PKK. The Turkish
government has been in a decades-long conflict with the PKK on Turkish
soil. A second stated objective for the safe zone was to relocate
there a million Syrian refugees who are in Turkey.

Territory is considered “occupied” when it is comes under the
effective control or authority of foreign armed forces, whether
partially or entirely, without the consent of the domestic government.
This is a factual determination and once territory comes under the
effective control of the foreign armed forces the laws on occupation
are applicable.

In administrative terms, Turkey treats the areas it occupies as part
of Turkey – specifically in this case, as the Şanlıurfa governorate.
Until December 2020, according to public statements in Turkish state
news agencies, the Syria Support and Coordination Center, a division
of the Şanlıurfa governor’s office, has been providing public
services, including water, garbage collection, cleaning, healthcare
services, and humanitarian aid in the occupied area.

Turkish government departments coordinate these services, with support
and assistance from the Turkish Armed Forces. The Turkish Armed Forces
remain in these areas and have developed military bases in at least
one of the main cities, Tal Abyad (Gire Spi). The Turkish government
is also providing the Syrian National Army and the police forces in
the area with training and logistical support, and closely coordinates
with them at the highest levels, including with executive orders to
the high-level commanders.

Recommendations

The Turkish authorities should stop transferring Syrian nationals from
the occupied area and detaining and prosecuting them in Turkey. The
Turkish authorities should immediately allow all detainees in their
custody to contact their families, whether in Turkey or outside of it,
and update families on their status. All Syrian detainees who were
transferred to Turkey should be repatriated to the occupied
territories in Syria immediately.

In the event that transferred Syrian nationals continue to be
prosecuted in Turkish courts, the court should exclude any evidence
obtained through coercion or through misrepresentation of the scope
and applicability of laws such as the “effective repentance law” or in
situations in which detained individuals have been denied due process
guarantees.

As the occupying power and a supporter of the local factions operating
in areas under their control, Turkish authorities must ensure that
their own officials and those under their command do not arbitrarily
detain, mistreat, or abuse anyone. The authorities are obliged to
investigate alleged violations and ensure that those responsible are
appropriately punished. Commanders who knew or should have known about
crimes committed by their subordinates but took no action to prevent
or punish them can be held criminally liable as a matter of command
responsibility.