Declarations by Germany earlier this month that it would care for Syrians entering the country spiked hopes among refugees here, leading to increasing numbers descending on Edirne. Among them is French-born Charlotte Lekay, a language teacher and activist, who was involved in the Crossing No More movement and Facebook page.
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Hundreds of people, majority Syrian, camped for days in and around a nearby mosque, many sleeping rough behind a cordon of police in riot gear.
Millions of Syrians have fled their country since war broke out in 2011 and Turkey is now home to the world’s largest refugee population, including 1.9 million Syrians. Many of them have divided families.
“Turkey didn’t provide them official refugee status, therefore Syrians do not have the right to work in the country”, former UNHCR officer and Vice Chairman of Asylum and Migration Research Center Metin Corabatir told Xinhua. At Istanbul’s main bus terminal, bus company employees say they are forbidden from selling Syrians tickets to Edirne.
Edirne’s governor has warned that any migrants trying to smuggle illegally into Europe through his province will be returned to refugee camps in southern Turkey.
Ankara has been extraordinarily generous to people from Syria in the years since civil war broke out there. But even though the Turks have spent some $7.6 billion feeding and housing the influx, many struggle to make ends meet. “We confronted rockets and expert riflemen after dim”, he said.
That border rush appears to have been a step too far for Turkish officials, who continue to block the refugees who reached Edirne from approaching the border.
Mogherini made the remarks ahead of the weekly European Commission College meeting, noting that the ongoing refugee issue was indeed a regional problem, but was most of all a global crisis the EU had to face together with it’s partners.
Turkish authorities re-enforced controls applying the rule according to which refugees must remain in the province in which they were first registered. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be named.
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The lawmakers said it was irresponsible for European politicians to encourage migrants to risk death for a better life in Europe and called on EU leaders to “return to the road of common sense” and protect Europe and it citizens. “Now, they apply the law”.
