KOBANI, Syria (North Press) – Omar Shahin, from the city of Kobani in northern Syria, looks for a safe route to immigrate, but his poor financial conditions, prevent him where he cannot afford travelling costs.
Shahin said, he has become more convinced of immigration than ever before due to the poor living conditions and low income.
However, Shahin seems hesitant because if he decides to immigrate, he has to sell his house, the only property they have.
“My house is all what I own, I cannot sell it and risk travelling with its price. Maybe I lose the sum and my family become homeless,” he said.
Immigration to Europe costs more than $10.000 per person, which means thousands of dollars are paid for smugglers monthly.
The residents tend to sell their properties at cheap prices to secure the costs of the immigration.
Job opportunities
The 25-year-old, Khamgin Ahmad, said that the main reason for the immigration is lack of job opportunities in the area.
North Press tried to contact the Social Affairs and Labor Board, affiliated with the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), to comment on the issue but they refused.
Ahmad believes that the living situation of Kobani residents is very difficult, “Some people work until late at night for a wage of 15.000 Syria pounds SYP per day [$3], and this wage is not enough.”
Ahmad talked about himself, saying that he spends about $200 a month on his family which consists of four persons, with austerity minimum expense that the family needed.
Ahmad, who works in a shop selling electrical tools, added that the construction movement stopped, many organizations moved to the city of Raqqa, and agriculture declined. All of these reasons affected the living situation.
There are no accurate statistics on the number of young men who immigrate monthly, but dozens appear on social media after arriving in countries such as Lebanon and Algeria heading to European countries.
Repeated Turkish shelling
Turkey targets the city and its countryside repeatedly as well as targeting the border villages which causes panic in the region, according to the residents.
Turkish threat causes instability in the region. Turkey launches “a psychological war” against the residents, according to Ahmad. Also, the lack of job opportunities is linked to instability, he noted.
Most of Kobani residents immigrate through Lebanon then to Algeria, heading to Europe, and others from Lebanon to Libya.
They bear the risk of travelling by boat to Italy and then to European countries.
On October 8, death toll of Syrian immigrants whose boat was sank off Algerian coast rose to 18, all of them from the city of Kobani.
The 22-year-old, Mustafa Sheikho said, he wants to emigrate but repeated cases of boat drowning, makes him hesitant.
Sheikho, who owns a shoe store, describes the living situation of the residents as “tragic”, where there is no security or stability due to Turkish frequent aggression on the region.
The repeated Turkish shelling of the area affects the residents’ psychological situation, so the best solution is to immigrate to Europe.
He added, “Most of those who own money, do not spend it on construction projects, but pay it to get their children out of the area.”