A 14-year-old child, who had been displaced from Sare Kani (Ras al-Ain) to Kobane, tried to enter Turkey illegally but was unsuccessful. When returning to the Kurdish town in Syria, he was shot dead by Turkey’s border guards, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Saturday.
The incident took place between Kikan and Sharan villages, it added.
At least 13 people have been killed by Turkish border guards since early 2024, the UK-based group, which relies on a network of local sources in Syria, stated.
Turkey has not yet commented on the incident.
Ankara must investigate and hold accountable border guards responsible for torturing, killing, and committing other grave human rights violations against Syrians with impunity, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report in April 2023.
The report accused Turkish border guards of indiscriminately targeting Syrians across the border by using excessive force against asylum seekers to block them from crossing the border into Turkey.
“Turkish gendarmes and armed forces in charge of border control routinely abuse and indiscriminately shoot at Syrians along the Syrian-Turkish border, with hundreds of deaths and injuries recorded in recent years,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at HRW.
Over three million Syrian refugees live in Syria, fleeing over a decade of civil war at home.
