Turkey is risking the lives of Syrian refugees by “forcing them to return to a war zone,” human rights groups have said.

Dozens of Syrians have been “arbitrarily” detained by Turkish authorities and deported across the border to a region where fighting continues, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International.

Both organisations, in statements issued separately on Friday, said they had spoken to refugees who claimed to have been beaten, threatened, or forced by police to sign documents stating they were returning voluntarily to their homeland.

Turkey currently hosts about 3.6 million refugees who fled Syria‘s eight-year-long civil war. With public sentiment towards them souring, Ankara hopes to resettle up to two million in a planned “safe zone” in northeast Syria.

But the United Nations has warned the “vast majority” of Syrian asylum-seekers “continue to need international refugee protection” and should not be forcibly returned.

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