Syria refugees facing very difficult situation

Press TV has conducted an interview with Bill Jones, with the Executive Intelligence Review, Leesburg about the issue of an NGO that has warned the Turkish government about its arbitrary treatment of Syrian refugees.

Press TV: A lot of alarming points coming up in this NGOs report, I’d like to get your perspective on the report’s outline of the treatment of Syrian refugees in Turkey.

Jones: Well, it’s probably pretty accurate. I’m sure the situation is getting out of control. The amount of refugees that have been coming into Turkey from the Syrian conflict is just far beyond what they were ever prepared to take.

Obviously as they get more and more, the situation, the tension with the Turks will become greater and greater.

In one sense the Turkish government has not always been the most amenable to refugees.

They do have their political intentions for the area – a lot of it has to do with geopolitics, but I think it’s really gone beyond control because the whole situation is starting to unravel.

As this occurs and we’ve seen it in other situations as nations start to devolve or being attacked from the outside, being emaciated, the countries in the region will then feel the effects of that.

And I think it’s quite obvious that there is a lot of problems in the Turkish camps and it just can’t continue as it has been or you’ll have a situation similar to what we’ve only seen in places like Africa in some of the most difficult regions in Congo and elsewhere with regard to these refugee camps.

Press TV: More so I would like you to address the fact that so many independent rights groups, NGOs and international bodies alike have not been given access to the camps and have been turned away on more than one occasion.

Jones: Well, I think the Turkish government is being very restrictive.

I think they’ve realized that the situation is getting out of control. I think they are cracking down and they feel that their reputation in the region would be harmed by these kinds of exposures. So obviously they’re going to try and restrict access as much as possible.

But people can see what’s going on. People hear the stories. They can’t really hide it. It’s really being spread by many people who are involved in the area and it is becoming a very difficult and dangerous situation for the refugees themselves.