Turkey's attempts to use refugees as a political bargaining chip have hurt both the refugees and the situation in Syria, President of the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD) Ozturk Turkdogan told Sputnik Turkiye.
Turkey recently made a 3 billion euro settlement with the European Union to keep refugees from leaving through smugglers.
"I must note that accepting refugees into 'its' camps, Turkey acts selectively, giving priority to Sunni Arabs. This discriminatory approach is part of Ankara's erroneous Syrian strategy, the goal of which is to create a new state in Syria, propped up with Sunni Muslims."
"Today's refugee issues are the result of wrong-headed policy on Syria," Turkdogan added.
Refugee smuggling in Turkey has previously been linked to organized crime groups, which make as much as 1 billion euros per year from smuggling.
