Turkish coastguards ‘ beat Syrian migrants’

SYRIAN migrants trying to cross from Turkey to Greece are being beaten by Turkish coastguards, it was claimed yesterday.

A Syrian couple with the first names Aladdin and Bushra filmed the moment their dinghy was stopped at night.

Children and women could be heard screaming as they were approached by people appearing to be Turkish coastguards.

Recounting the incident to the BBC, Aladdin claimed that men on board were struck with batons. He added that many were also arrested and the beatings then ‘got worse’.

Bushra said: ‘ Our children were crying and screaming for their father. I was terrified for my husband because they took him and started beating him.

‘They started to beat the men, we couldn’t get close to them. We were pulling the children aside because they were crying for their father.’

Aladdin said: ‘They pulled me to the side and started beating me in the abdomen. When I tried to move they would kick us.’

Around 50 migrants a day are still trying to cross the Aegean Sea to enter the EU via Greece.

In 2016, the EU secured a deal with President Erdogan which effectively involved giving Turkey £5.3billion and making political concessions to stop the flow. It required Greece to send back many migrants to holding camps in Turkey but concerns are being raised about the brutality of the country’s coastguard.

Aladdin and Bushra eventually reached Greece after crossing in another boat.

Other migrants have also claimed they were mistreated.

Omar Al Said, of the Starfish Foundation which helps refugees, said: ‘We’ve seen so many videos. It is something so common that I would say most of the people who come here and encounter the Turkish coastguard have to endure it.’

The Turkish Government declined to provide a comment to the BBC on the claims.