"Shots fired at refugees - Turkey closes its borders to Syria - with EU funding - There is no longer an escape from the country plagued by civil war," writes the German magazine Der Spiegel.
"Human rights groups accuse Turkey of forcibly deporting Syrian refugees. Turkey receives EU assistance in protecting its borders "According to a Spiegel investigation, more than 80 million euros were sent to Ankara for this reason", writes the German magazine and adds:
"The EU helps Turkey close its borders to refugees. Germany and the other EU member states provided the Ankara government with security technology and surveillance technology worth a total of more than 80 million euros in order to protect its borders. This is according to research by Spiegel and the European Investigative Collaborations Network. Thus, Brussels, under the IPA regional development program of the Turkish company Otokar, proceeded to a transfer of 35,6 million euros for the construction of armored military vehicles, called Cobra II, which are now used on the Turkish border with Syria. The Aselsan armament group, which is majority owned by the Turkish state, was thus assigned by the EU. to provide armored and non-armored surveillance vehicles for control of the Greek-Turkish land border for 30 million euros.
In March 2016, the EU and Ankara had reached an agreement under which Europeans were initially required to pay three billion euros to Turkey in exchange for "holding back" refugees in the country and preventing them from continuing their journey to the EU. "The money should normally have been given to the Syrians in Turkey, however 18m euros were given to a Dutch company, which built six patrol boats for the Turkish Coast Guard."
Turkey has erected a wall on its border with Syria. Human rights groups have accused Turkish border guards of using force to prevent Syrians from fleeing to Turkey. Many refugees told Spiegel magazine that they had been shot by Turkish soldiers. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, whose data cannot be independently verified, at least 42 people have lost their lives since September trying to cross the border wall.
Until the summer of 2015, the border with Turkey was open to the Syrians. 3,5 million Syrian refugees have arrived in Turkey, more than any other country. Since then, Ankara, among other things, under pressure from the EU, has closed its escape routes. Anyone who wants to escape the war in Syria must now pay a lot of money - or risk their lives. "With the EU-Turkey refugee agreement, the crisis has simply shifted: while fewer people drowned in the Aegean - where the number of vessels trying to reach Greek territory has decreased since the agreement was reached, they are now dying on the Turkish-Syrian border." ends Der Spiegel.