The European Commission (EC) intends to raise the issue of the shooting of refugees by Turkey in the negotiations with Ankara, the official representative of the EU Natasha Berto announced at a press conference in Brussels on Thursday, commenting on earlier media reports.

Berto said that they had seen messages in the press, but they had no information confirming them. The European Commission will raise this issue in its contacts with the Turkish authorities, TASS reported.

At the same time she emphasized that "Turkey's migration policies must comply with all standards on human rights".

Journalists’ questions were connected with the message of the The Times newspaper that Turkish authorities shoot the refugees trying to cross the border of the country from Syria.

According to the newspaper, Turkish frontier troops shoot refugees while they escape from civil war in Syria, - the newspaper reported quoting data from the London-based human rights organization Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Sixteen migrants, including three children, have been killed for the last four months when they were making their way to Turkey.

The Centre has collected information on details of the executions, which led to murder: a man and a child were killed near Ras al-Ayn  (the Syrian city) in the eastern part of the Syrian-Turkish border on February 6," - the edition continues , noting that two migrants  were shot in the western section of the border on March 5.

With reference to the smuggler, involved in trafficking of migrants, The Times reports that the refugees still cross the border, but now they wish that they were either killed or captured. At the same time the newspaper reminds that "the Turkish authorities claim that they continue to adhere to the policy of open borders for Syrians whose lives are under direct immediate threat”.

The deaths of refugees poses questions to an agreement signed with EU 11 days ago, The Times stresses. It classifies Turkey as “safe third country”, this means that refugees can be returned there without fear that they may be prosecuted.