(Zaman Al Wasl)- Turkish authorities have detained tens of Syrian refugees in Ataturk airport in Istanbul over holding passports issued by the opposition's National Coalition, sources said.
Many Syrians were forced to get a “coalition passport” issued as a temporary solution because they faced security threats when attempting to renew their passports or issue new one through regime channels. Some of the people held obtained the passports through intermediaries who deal informally with persons close to Coalition in Turkey.
One of the persons arrested on 25 January told Zaman al-Wasl that the Turkish authorities stopped him, his wife, and infant child while they were in Ataturk airport on the basis they possessed counterfeit passports. The man was released after two days, but his wife and child remain in custody in one the detention centers in Istanbul.
The eye-witness, who preferred not to disclose his name, recounted the details of what happened. “Recently I obtained a visa to France along with my wife and child, and the visa was put on the passports we obtained through a middleman who said they are Coalition passports which are known among Syrians to be legitimate passports but they are just not registered in the regime records,” he said.
The witness continued, “After we obtained the visa we booked our flights from Istanbul to France through a travel agent, and when we got to the airport and presented our passports for investigation by the airport authorities, we were stopped and detained in the lower floor of Ataturk airport. There were tens of Syrians detained there for the same reason.”
The witness indicated that one of the people detained with him advised him to deny that he knew the regime had not issued the passport. He informed the Turkish official who interrogated him that he obtained the passport via a middleman who said the regime would issue it.
The source confirmed that he remained detained with the Turkish authorities for more than 24 hours. He was interrogated about the source who provided him with the passport and visa. He pointed out that the French authorities admitted that they had formally given him the visa, so the Turkish authorities dropped charges of forging a visa. The witness added, “I was released today after I signed a paper but I did not understand what was written in it. The Turkish authorities are still holding my wife and child.”
The eye-witness suggested that the Syrian authorities may have disseminated the numbers of all passports not registered with the regime. He based his suggestion on a story recounted to him by the person who facilitated him obtaining the visa to France. The French Consul supposedly told that person that France received a list from the regime with the numbers of fraudulent and stolen passports.
The source confirmed that he had previously used the same passport to travel from Turkey to France around 18 months ago. He did not face any problems at that time in leaving Turkey or re-entering it.
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