TURKEY: Syrians flee into Turkey to evade crackdown

Record ID: 272186

  • Title: TURKEY: Syrians flee into Turkey to evade crackdown
  • Date: 11th June 2011
  • Summary: WOMEN WANDERING INSIDE THE CAMP WITH HER CHILD CHILDREN MAKING VICTORY SIGN
  • Embargoed: 26th June 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey, Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA85WAENDFHNHNZR6VOJC99Y1UB
  • Story Text: Around 50 Syrians crossed into Turkey early on Friday (June 10) with a further influx of refugees expected, as state television reported the Syrian army began a military operation in a restive town near the Turkish border and the country braced for more violent protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.
    Jisr al-Shughour, a town of 50,000, had largely emptied of people, residents said.
    Turkey's Red Crescent set up a make-shift camp camp five weeks ago on the grounds of a disused tobacco factory on the outskirts of Yayladagi, a sleepy village of 6,300 where many speak Arabic as a first language and have families scattered both sides of the border which snakes its way through verdant green hills.
    In the last few days the population has swelled to bursting point with at least 1,700 refugees now living in tents as Syrians fled the nearby town of Jisr al-Shughour under attack from security forces following protests against the autocratic rule of President Bashar al-Assad.
    The Red Crescent is now building a second camp as hundreds continue to arrive, picked up by scores of minibuses hurtling through the winding roads to pick up refugees.
    The border itself is marked just with barbed wire and a military road running along the Turkish side.
    Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Thursday (June 9) 2,400 people had now crossed into Turkey.
    Some 40 tanks and troop carriers were deployed about 7 km (4 miles) from Jisr al-Shughour, residents said. Syrian authorities say "armed gangs" killed more than 120 security personnel there this week. Other accounts described a mutiny among troops who refused to fire on civilians after a pro-democracy rally in the town on Friday. Loyalist military units then attacked the mutineers, according to the reports.
    Injured refugees who have made it to Turkey, mostly with gunshot wounds, have been taken to a hospital in Antakya, the ancient city of Antioch.
    Turkish authorities have denied media access to the refugee camps, set in a picturesque valley, but visible behind its gate were rows of large white tents, some with washing strung between them, and children playing.
    Syrian men and women sat in groups in the shade of the trees, some of them waving and appearing relaxed.
    After World War I and the fall of the Ottoman Empire the province of Hatay, for centuries a melting pot of religions and ethnicities passed to French-mandated Syria control. Syria gained independence in 1936 but Hatay, which had a large Turkish population, became part of Turkey in 1939.
    Turkey's ties with Syria were fraught in subsequent decades, in large part because of Syria's claim to Hatay, but have improved markedly in recent years under a policy by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to reach out to Ankara's neighbours.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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