Turkey has abruptly arrested and deported hundreds of Syrian men and boys back to Syria, according to the NGO Human Rights Watch.

The international non-profit group said deported Syrians had reported to its researchers that many of them were arrested at their homes or workplaces, or even on the streets.

HRW said the asylum seekers told of being abused and forced to sign documents they understood were voluntary repatriation agreements. 

The people interviewed by the human rights group said they were taken to the border with neighbouring Syria and forced to cross at gunpoint, HRW said.

“In violation of international law, Turkish authorities have rounded up hundreds of Syrian refugees, even unaccompanied children, and forced them back to Syria,” said HRW researcher Nadia Hardman, in a statement.

She called on the European Union, which provides funding for migration detention centres in Turkey in exchange for Ankara reducing the flow of migrants to Europe, to cut aid until forced deportations ended.

The HRW report said it had interviewed 37 Syrian men and two boys between February and August, as well as relatives of those who had been deported.

Those interviewed said they were deported with dozens or hundreds of others.

HRW said Turkey appeared to be in breach of the international principle of non-refoulement, in which governments are obliged to not repatriate asylum seekers to countries where they face violence or persecution.

The United Nations Commission of Inquiry into Syria said last month was not safe for refugees to return.

The Commission said it continued to document grave violations of human rights, where arbitrary detention and torture remained systematic in Syrian government controlled areas.

Turkey was once a sworn enemy of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad but has softened its stance after a decade of hostility.

Ankara cut off diplomatic relations with Syria in the early years of the eleven-year Syrian conflict.

But Turkey has recently said that Syrian opposition groups and the government must be reconciled.

Turkish President Recep Erdogan also recently signalled potential political engagement, saying diplomatic relations between the two countries could never fully be cut.

This came ahead of the Turkish elections, set for June 2023.

Turkey has carried out four military operations in northern Syria since 2016, with Ankara saying it is creating a safe zone where some of 3.6 million Syrian refugees it is currently hosting could return.