Recommendations A/HRC/33/51/Add.1 Situation during the visit A/HRC/33/51/Add.1 Measures taken/current situation Level of implementation and observations (to be completed by the WGEID) individuals at risk to return to places where they face harm or enforced disappearance. This includes Syrian asylum seekers, who are entitled to automatic protection under Turkish law. Addressing the UN General Assembly in September 2019, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that Turkey would set up a so-called “safe zone” in territories held by Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration in northeastern Syria. The stated intention of the Turkish authorities was to return to the “safe zone” in Syria between one million and three million refugees. Preceding and following the announcement by the Turkish President and the withdrawal of the American forces from Northern Syria, authorities throughout Turkey began to arbitrarily detain and deport hundreds of Syrian refugees between January and September 2019, despite active hostilities and dangers there. Deported Syrians sometimes stated that Turkish officials forced them to sign forms they were not allowed to read, in some cases after beating or threatening them, and transported them to Syria. LLG – TGRLSP Human Rights Watch reported in July 2019 that the Turkish authorities are detaining and coercing Syrian refugees into signing forms declaring they wish to return to Syria and forcibly returning them there. On July 24, 2019, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu denied that Turkey had “deported” Syrians but said that Syrians “who voluntarily want to go back to Syria” can benefit from procedures allowing them to return to “safe areas.” 51 57 Human Rights Watch, Turkey Forcibly Returning Syrians to Danger: Authorities Detain, Coerce Syrians to Sign “Voluntary Return” Forms, 26 July 2019. < https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/26/turkey-forcibly-returning-syrians-danger> accessed 11 February 2020. A/HRC/45/13/Add.4 51