Syrian refugees and migrants gather on their way to Greek border near Edirne, Turkey.Sahan Nuhoglu/Demotix. All rights reserved.While EU leaders at the 23 September emergency summit on the refugee crisis struggled to reach agreement on how to cooperate, they all seemed to agree with German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s observation that “solving problems of [the EU] external borders is not possible without working with Turkey”.
Many Europeans are asking: Isn’t Turkey a safe country for Syrian refugees? Why don’t they just stay there? In fact, the overwhelming majority of people who have fled the violence in Syria for Turkey have stayed there. Turkey not only hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees, 1.9 million, but also the largest number of refugees of any country in the world. Turkey has been remarkably generous: it has built and maintained 25 refugee camps along the Syrian border and has a temporary protection system for Syrian refugees. Many Syrians are, in fact, now leaving Turkey or just travelling through without staying.
I have been talking with some of the asylum seekers as they trek through Greece, Macedonia and Serbia, asking them about their reasons for fleeing, their experiences during the journey, and their hopes for the future. I heard no single reason why Syrian refugees are moving on from Turkey. Instead, there are many factors involved. These reflect living conditions in Turkey, the varied backgrounds of refugees from Syria with varying levels of disquiet about their potential future in Turkey and, of course, the draw of Europe.
