Flickr/CAFOD Photo Library. Some rights reserved.It typically costs around $1200 per person to be smuggled on a boat from Turkey’s shore to a neighbouring Greek island. That’s what I learned from Syrians I met in Istanbul in October. I had a long conversation with two women from the Yarmouk suburb of Damascus, originally a Palestinian refugee camp. It has been decimated by Syrian government forces and the remaining population live under conditions of siege with many close to starvation.
The women agonised over whether to attempt the perilous journey again. They had already tried but the flimsy boat smashed to pieces against jagged rocks upon encountering its first wave. Luckily they were close to the shore. As the winter approaches, the rougher seas mean that the window to set off for Europe is closing, and if they do not leave soon they must wait until the spring. Their relative had found a smuggler willing to take them for ‘only’ $900 per person, a distance of around ten miles from one shore near Izmir, presumably to Lesbos. They are fully aware of the risks, even of armed masked men, believed to be Greek forces, attacking boats before they reach the shore. They will not be guaranteed safety once they reach Greece. A long and arduous path awaits those who make it to the Greek islands before they can find safety in northern Europe.
Another Syrian I met had better fortunes. He left Syria for Lebanon and flew to Algeria using his Syrian passport. From there he entered Libya via the smuggler route and boarded a boat to Italy. He travelled by land to Belgium where he paid £2,500 to be smuggled into the UK inside a refrigerated truck carrying fruit between 0-2C. "When you’ve been dodging sniper fire every day, 15 hours in a cold truck is worth it"; he was granted asylum in the UK some months after his arrival. He is one of the lucky few.
