Turkey-based Syrians organize caravan to Europe fleeing tough measures
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – As Turkey is applying tougher measures on Syrian refugees amidst repeated talks of reconciliation with Syrian government, a group of Syrian refugees in Turkey is organizing a caravan with the aim to reach Europe.
Six days ago, the group sent messages to followers via Telegram channel, calling on people to bring sleeping bags, tents, life jackets, water, canned food, and first aid kits.
The caravan will be divided into groups 50 individuals in each and led by a supervisor, according to organizers.
“We have been in Turkey for 10 years,” read one message posted on the channel by an administrator. “We are protected …but Western countries must share the burden,” according to Jordan News.
Syrians, in the first years of the war were welcomed in Turkey; however, recently the Turks have revealed real hatred and racism they bear towards the Syrians.
Syrians are being restricted in Turkey “even though indirectly,” when recently the government issued procedures in “no longer issuing the temporary identity card (Kimlik), defining the place of residence, fixing the address, and that percentage of Syrians in any region should not exceed 20%,” Raja Ahmad, a pseudonym for an Istanbul-based Syrian journalist, had previously told North Press.
Turkey “will say our goodbyes to our Syrian guests and will send them to their homes in two years,” Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party, and its leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said in July.
Turkey’s Ministry of Interior in June stated that a total of 781 neighbourhoods throughout 54 provinces will be off-limits to people from other countries.
The Migration Management noted that starting from July 1; the closed neighbourhoods have increased to 1.169 in different Turkish areas.
Fear has crippled into the Syrians hearts after Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a press conference in Ankara on August 16 that “reconciliation is essential for a lasting peace in Syria,” in an attempt to appease the Syrian government.
Zaynab, 29, a resident of Idlib who resides in Turkey, said that”Many people around me are preparing to leave for Europe.”
This recalls the experience of 2015, according to Zaynab.
In 2016, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described his Syrian counterpart as “tyrant” and “terrorist” and supported Syrian opposition factions to help them topple the presidents.
August 18, after Erdogan’s return from Ukraine, marks the shift in his policy, telling reporters, “Our problem is not one of defeating or failing to defeat Al-Assad.”
Such a policy arouses the refugees’ concerns, “not because they do not want to return to their country, rather it owes to the continuation in power of the ruling regime,” Ghazwan Qurunful, head of the Free Syrian Lawyers Association in Turkey, told North Press.
The 40-year-old refugee rights activist from northern Syria Taha Elgazi said, “We can never trust this regime.”
On May 3, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, “We are preparing a new project for the voluntary return of one million Syrian brothers who are in our country as guests.”