At least 600 Syrian refugees were deported from Turkey following clashes with military police at a refugee camp near the Turkish-Syrian border. Turkish officials deny that anyone was expelled — they insist that the refugees left voluntarily — but human rights organizations are pointing to evidence of the opposite, and are warning that more deportations are in the works:

The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR voiced deep concern at reports of deportations and said it had taken up the issue with Turkey and was seeking more information. Such actions would be against U.N. conventions governing the treatment of refugees.

“There has been a big deportation operation here, they got rid of lots of people. They kicked out two of my boys and three of my brother’s sons. They came for my boys last night and told them to get their bags,” one refugee at the camp told Reuters by telephone, giving her name as Saher.

“Today, a large number of guards came in with shields and they went around the camp forcing people out. I think around 300 families left today.” One official at the camp said 600-700 people had been deported including those identified from security camera footage as being involved in the violence, along with their families… A second Turkish official in the region put the number lower, saying about 400 had been sent home.

“Deportations to Syria would be, if they occurred, against the principles of international law. So we are very much hoping this didn’t occur,” said Melissa Fleming, chief spokeswoman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The clashes began after an electrical fire killed a child in the crowded refugee camp. The Syrian conflict has generated more than one million refugees, and the United Nations estimates that approximately 260,000 have fled to Turkey.

The move to deport refugees will bring Ankara under scrutiny by human rights groups at a time when Turkey is already facing human rights criticism on a variety of fronts.

Human Rights Watch this week called on Turkish officials to pass legislation designed to stem endemic human rights violations inside the country. The Committee to Protect Journalists recently blasted Turkey for being the world leader in imprisoning journalists. Freedom House criticized the country for “jail[ing] hundreds of journalists, academics, opposition party officials, and military officers in a series of prosecutions aimed at alleged conspiracies against the state and Kurdish organizations.”

[Photo: Voice of America News / Wiki Commons]