EUROPE-MIGRANTS/TURKEY-SYRIA REFUGEES Syrian refugees pour into western Turkish province hoping to reach Greece

Record ID: 144244

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/TURKEY-SYRIA REFUGEES Syrian refugees pour into western Turkish province hoping to reach Greece
  • Date: 11th August 2015
  • Summary: IZMIR, TURKEY (AUGUST 10, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BASMANE DISTRICT WHERE SYRIAN REFUGEES ARE STAYING VARIOUS OF SYRIANS SITTING AT MOSQUE VARIOUS OF SYRIANS SITTING AND SLEEPING AT MOSQUE SYRIAN REFUGEE FROM KOBANI, KHALED SELMO, TALKING TO MEN MEN LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (Kurdish) SYRIAN REFUGEE, KHALED SELMO, SAYING: "We cannot return to Kobani. We have nothing left. We
  • Embargoed: 26th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVACCIXT5WJPB86IOOYEM5LF5JXM
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The Basmane neighbourhood of the western Turkish city of Izmir has become a hotspot for Syrian migrants, with many sleeping in parks and mosques as hotels nearby run at full capacity.
    With nowhere else to go, they take shelter at a mosque, some carrying their belongings in plastic garbage bags.
    Hundreds of migrants attempt to set sail to Greek Islands from western Turkish cities.
    Khaled Selmo fled from the Syrian border town of Kobani.
    "We cannot return to Kobani. We have nothing left. We had a house but it is destroyed. We still want to return to our country but we are afraid. We are afraid of PKK (Kurdish militants). We are afraid of the (Syrian) regime. We are afraid of the Islamic State," he said.
    Selmo, who couldn't make it to Greece for the first time, said he would continue to try.
    "We came to Izmir almost a week ago. We came here to cross into Greece. We cannot find a way of going there. It all depends on human traffickers. They are thieves. They want a lot of money. We already attempted to travel to Greece once or twice but we failed. And here we can neither stay at a hotel nor at a park," he said.
    Turkey's position as a bridge from Asia to Europe, as well as its wealth compared with neighbouring states, has long made it both a destination and a transit point for migrants from the Middle East and as far afield as Africa and South Asia.
    Tens of thousands of migrants cross Greece's sea and land borders every year, the vast majority via Turkey.
    "Syrians come here in order to cross to Greece and then to other European countries. There is a flow of Syrians. They come and go and new ones follow them. There is a war in their country. If they stay there, one or two people from their family will be killed in a year or two," chairman of association of Syrians, Muhammed Ozen said.
    "The majority of them manage to cross from Aegean sea. Sometimes their boats sink and coast guards rescue them. Since we are not talking about a large area, they can be rescued quickly Therefore the percentage of death is much lower compared to Libyan coast," he added.
    On Tuesday (August 11), the Turkish coast guard rescued 330 Syrians adrift in the Aegean Sea after failing to reach Greece.
    Crisis-hit Greece has seen a dramatic rise in the number of people seeking refuge. The United Nations refugee agency said 124,000 had arrived this year by sea.
    Turkey is home to more than 1.8 million Syrian refugees escaping the four-year-old civil war.
    One Turkish coast guard officer in the seaside resort town of Cesme said his crew had rescued 700 people in the past week, which he said was a record.
    Most are refugees from war-torn Syria, but others fleeing hardship and violence in Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran are also filling up the inflatable boats run by Turkish smugglers.
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