The whole of Europe is embroiled in a discussion on how many Syrian refugees each country should or could take in. Germany is the biggest European recipient country hosting around 100.000 Syrian refugees. In comparison: Jordan currently hosts more than 600.000 people and Lebanon almost 1.2 million people. Turkey hosts more than 1.6 million Syrian refugees. (http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php)
Istanbul is a vibrant and very impressive city. It manages to be modern and traditional at the same time transcending the notion of what is thought to be oriental or occidental. The Taksim and Sultanahment districts are swamped with tourists all year round. Taksim square and the popular shopping street Istiklal Cadessi are never found empty: During the day, shoppers flood the street – tourists with loads of shopping bags are everywhere. During the night, the beats of the clubs hammer through the walls. In short, it is a great place to be and enjoy life.
Still, it feels uneasy to stroll through Istiklal Cadessi, no matter the time. Being a tourist in Istanbul one shares the same places and squares with a countless number of Syrian children, their often very young mothers and exhausted fathers. At every corner of the street kids kneel on cardboard playing their plastic flutes. None of them seem to be much older than seven. Cans and boxes lie in front of them.
Others, as young as three or four, run through the streets after tourists. The youngest ones are just sitting on the cold floor with their mothers. The mothers, often looking like teenagers themselves, are holding tiny babies in their arms. Some of them sell water bottles, some just sit there and beg. In front of them their IDs proving that they are really from Syria. Mostly they ignore the passersby, occasionally they shout “Syria, Syria”, but that is it.
The infrastructure in Istanbul cannot handle the huge influx of refugees. Many families sleep in parks or on the streets even. Being in Istanbul in November, I already wondered how these new-born babies on the arms of their mothers would survive a winter out in the cold. Currently the temperatures in Istanbul range between 2° and 10° Celsius.
And while the geographical distance makes it easy to complain about the treatment of Syrian refugees in Turkey, Frontex is still patrolling the Mediterranean – protecting Europe from whatever it is afraid of. We are closing off our borders just like we used to: Like the Evros region between Turkey and Greece. It is an important gateway to the EU for many refugees, not only for Syrians. It is being guarded closely with the police arresting asylum seekers, who wade and swim through the shallow Evros river in order to reach Europe. They are all considered “illegal immigrants” and they are not wanted in Europe. Not from Syria nor any other war-ridden country. The refugees stranded in Istanbul are left with nowhere to go.
Click here for more pictures by Turjoy Chowdhury.
Miriam's Diwan 