Officials of the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation said that a delegation led by the deputy minister has gone to Turkey for negotiations about Afghan refugees’ challenges in the country.
Moshtaq and Abdullah are two young people who went to Turkey for work, but they were arrested by police and were transferred to a camp.
“We were in jail for two and three months and their behavior was so bad with us … and they just deport refugees without discussing it,” said Moshtaq, a deportee.
According to reports, hundreds of Afghan refugees were deported from Turkey to Kabul daily. “They brought us to the camp and threatened us to sign something to be deported. If we didn’t sign, they said here are the containers for punishment, they will send us there or to Iran’s country border where we will get beaten and robbed … so there is no other way without being deporting,” said Ismail, a deportee. Increasing deportations of Afghan refugees caused Islamic Emirate officials to go to Turkey. Mohammad Arsalah Kharoti, deputy of the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation met with Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu of turkey and Ismail Katali, Turkey’s senior deputy of security, during their trip and discussed legalizing the presence of immigrants and facilitating their voluntary return to the country. “One of our achievements is that our refugees that are in Turkey–their problems should be dealt with in terms of the law,” said Malawi Sardar Sherzad, head of the internally displaced of the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation.
Officials of the ministry said that the delegation in the meeting with Turkish officials agreed to address refugees’ challenges together and form a technical team.
“We want this delegation to have extensive discussions regarding the refugees’ repatriation, their issues, and challenges,” he continued.
According to Kharouti, the Taliban demands that Turkey provide the facilities for Afghan refugees in compliance with the rights granted to refugees by international law.
The number of Afghan refugees in Turkey is not precisely known, although the government estimates that there are 120,000 of them there. Turkey however has deported 40,000 undocumented Afghans back to Afghanistan.—Tolonews
