TURKEY: Syrian refugees living in tented camps in Turkey say they cannot return home until President Bashar al-Assad has gone

Record ID: 276301

  • Title: TURKEY: Syrian refugees living in tented camps in Turkey say they cannot return home until President Bashar al-Assad has gone
  • Date: 25th November 2011
  • Summary: HATAY, TURKEY (NOVEMBER 23, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TENT CAMP WITH REFUGEES WALKING AROUND TODDLER WALKING IN CAMP CHILD LOOKING OUT FROM INSIDE TENT REFUGEES SEATED INSIDE TENT VARIOUS OF WOMAN FEEDING BABY VARIOUS OF REFUGEES STANDING OUTSIDE TENT
  • Embargoed: 10th December 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey, Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAAHVLUTL7FLX6TITMUMXMK37DC
  • Story Text: They are just a short walk away from their homeland but Syrian refugees camping on the Turkish side of the border say they are unable to go back.
    More than 7,500 Syrians are living in six camps in Hatay province but Turkey does not refer to them as refugees, saying they are "guests" and can come and go as they please.
    Grandmother Mariam Haj Yousef is one of those who fled across the border to escape Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on pro-democracy activists over the past eight months. She says people are grateful for the help they have received.
    "They are doing everything to please us, schools, food, drink and hospitality. They are giving us everything. The people are good but we want to return to Syria. We want God and all the countries to help us return to Syria," she said.
    But for Yousef and others like here, there can be no return to Syria until President Assad has been removed from power.
    "We want Europe and the Arab countries to help us go back to Syria, and to rid us of this oppressor so we can go back to Syria. If the oppressor stays, we will not go back, we will never ever go back," said the 57-year-old outside a tent at a camp in Yayladag.
    The camp, set up by Turkey, was the first to be established, as Ankara responded with growing alarm to the crackdown in Syria.
    Those living in the camps say they are being well provided-for.
    "Our conditions, thank God, are good. We are not in need of anything. The Turkish government is giving us everything," said refugee Abdulkarim Haj Yousef.
    Having failed for months to persuade Assad to exercise restraint and introduce reforms in Syria, Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erodgan has raised pressure on the Syrian leader, calling openly for him to stand down.
    Turkey has allowed Syrian dissidents to meet in Turkish cities to form a political opposition to the Syrian government and is now giving sanctuary in Hatay to the most senior Syrian military officer to defect.
    But as well as military defectors, Turkey has become home to thousands of Syrian civilians.
    While the older generation long for home, at the tent city's school, a converted warehouse, a Turkish teacher said the children appeared not to be too badly affected by the upheaval.
    "When children are depressed, they reflect it in their drawings. But if we look at what our children here were drawing, we can see that people are smiling, having fun, trees and animals. They are drawing normal pictures which children at that age draw," said Hamza Pehliuan.
    A Turkish foreign ministry official in the area reckoned that the number of refugees registered at the camps peaked at nearly 20,000 a few months ago, but fell as more families left.
    They are presumed to have gone home, but there are an uncounted number of people staying with relatives and friends in the towns and villages of the region.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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