Bullets don’t deter migrants at Turkish-Greek border

Bullets don’t deter migrants at Turkish-Greek border

Turkey said that one man was killed by live fire from the Greek side, a claim rejected by Athens.

By BERIL ESKI 3/4/20, 8:45 PM CET Updated 3/4/20, 8:57 PM CET

https://www.politico.eu/article/bullets-dont-deter-migrants-at-turkish-greek-border/

EDIRNE, Turkey — Not even bullets could dampen the determination of migrants who had gathered at the Turkish-Greek land border in the hope of crossing into the European Union.

On Wednesday, violent clashes erupted on the border, where thousands of migrants have gathered since Ankara announced last week that it would no longer block their passage into the bloc. Turkish authorities said that one migrant was killed and five were injured by live fire from the Greek side — a claim rejected by Athens.

Yet migrants continue to flock to Edirne, the Turkish city closest to the land borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Even those who were wounded on Wednesday say they'll try again to cross.

“While I was running, they hit me in my leg. A friend of mine was shot, I dragged him to stand up, then they [hit] my arm," said Adel Caberi, an Iranian man who had been brought to Edirne's Trakya University Hospital with wounds to his hand and leg.

In the bed beside him, an injured young Afghan was drifting off into unconsciousness; two other men were recovering across the room, their limbs and abdomens wrapped in bandages. Shoes and trousers, covered in blood, were strewn across the floor.

Migrants try to remove fences during the clashes with Greek police on the buffer zone Turkey-Greece border | Bulent Kilic/AFP via Getty Images

Despite the danger, Caberi said he would give crossing the border another try. "We have no other way," he said. "I am scared, but this is our destiny."

Near the Pazarkule border gate, groups of migrants — mostly Syrians and Afghans but also Iranians, Sudanese, Eritreans, Yemenis and Iraqis — had made camp in the fields along the buffer zone between Turkey and Greece, waiting for their chance to cross. The United Nations puts their number at about 20,000.

Omid, an Iranian man in his 40s, who asked for his real name not to be published, described the conditions inside the buffer zone — which journalists are not permitted to enter — as inhumane.

“We live like savages in there. We are scared of imminent attacks by the Greeks ... When the Greeks fired tear gas, everybody threw up. We could not open our eyes because of the gas," he said. (Greece has repeatedly fired tear gas across the border.)

Migrants were going hungry and holding out in unhygienic conditions, he added. With the temperatures dropping to 11 degrees at night, Omid found it "too cold to sleep."

But for him, too, there is no turning back. A member of Iran's Kurdish minority, Omid, who speaks Turkish well, said that he had fled his home country eight years ago.

It's difficult for Iranians to claim asylum in Turkey. But Omid said he had been lucky enough to get on to a list for resettlement to the United States, which is why he did not leave for Europe during the 2015 refugee crisis.

But the resettlement process can take years. Eventually, President Donald Trump's "Muslim ban" left him stuck in Turkey, Omid said, adding: "I wanted to respect the law, but I was mistaken."

Omid felt he could no longer stay in Turkey, where he had "built a life"over the past eight years. "Things have changed," he said.

Like many migrants and refugees, he felt that Turks' attitude toward them had shifted, in particular since escalating violence in Syria had left dozens of Turkish soldiers dead. Last week, more than 30 Turkish troops died in airstrikes in Idlib, where Ankara has intervened to support rebels against the Syrian regime and Russia.

Since then, ultra-nationalists have targeted Syrians in Turkey; in two cities, there have been reports of angry mobs attacking refugees.

Mohammed, a 23-year-old from Syria, cited the growing hostility toward refugees in Turkey as one of his reasons for heading toward Europe.

He said he had been among the first to try and cross the border, but had been pushed back by Greek border guards. "I was beaten by one of the guards," he said. "They tried to confiscate our money and cell phones but I managed to run back.”

As the sun set on the Turkish border, volunteers arrived to distribute soup. Migrants built fires to keep warm and hold out for another night in the hope that come morning, Greece might relent and open the gates. Most have no plans to turn around.

“We have become victims of politics,” Omid said. “I just want to live a decent life. They should compromise and open the borders. There is no going back from here."