Amnesty estimated that the number of refugees affected over the past few months was likely to be in the hundreds. “The claims of forced return, threats and bad treatment are not true and are completely made up,” Aksoy said in a statement. Officials have extended a deadline for unregistered Syrian refugees in Istanbul to leave the city until October 30. Authorities say refugees must return to the provinces where they were first registered upon arriving in Turkey – mainly border cities including Gaziantep and Sanliurfa. Over the past two weeks, Turkey has signed deals with the United States and Russia to create its proposed “safe zone”.

Source: The Express Tribune October 26, 2019 06:00 UTC