properly, although he said that everyone in the group lied about his nationality, all claiming either to be Palestinian or Burmese. The gendarmes then took them to the passport office in Edirne: A passport office policeman there asked us where we were from and we said Burma. Then he started hitting us. One man’s lip was bleeding. Five or six other policemen watched as he beat us. This happened on March 14, 2008 at 2:00 pm. There were 22 of us at the passport office—20 “Palestinians” and two of us claiming to be Burmese. He hit all of us. Three other policemen did some hitting. The people were crying, saying, “Believe us. Believe us.” The policeman hit me about seven times. I continued to say I was from Burma. They hit my friend from Bangladesh about 12 times. I know the man who hit us quite well. He comes here [the Tunca detention center at Edirne] often. I think he is an officer. That day he was wearing a light blue shirt and a police uniform. He comes here many times in civilian clothes. He has short brown hair brushed back from his forehead. He is tall and slim with a long face, not round. He is about 40 years old. 109 One interviewee, a child, alleged that Turkish officials beat him to make him admit to being an adult. The child, a Bangladeshi youth in the Kırklareli detention facility, told Human Rights Watch about this encounter shortly after being apprehended in Turkey: “I told them that I was 17 years old. They beat me to tell them that I was not 17, that I was 18. They hit me with a stick and kicked me. They beat me for 10 minutes. When I said I was 18 they stopped beating me.”110 A 26-year-old man claiming to be Burmese gave a disturbing account of gendarmes compelling him and other migrants to perform forced labor: The gendarmes are very hard-minded people. I am very weak and the gendarmes hit me with a stick. They made us clean the football field of the gendarmerie station. We were about 70 people. We also had to clear 109 Human Rights Watch interview (name withheld, B-110), Edirne, June 13, 2008. 110 Human Rights Watch interview (name withheld, B-100), Kırklareli, June 10, 2008. Stuck in a Revolving Door 50