A Conversation on the Dirty Deal: How Syrians Feel About the New Agreement

Ali, 26 was one of the lucky ones that had made to Greece after a dangerous trip to Lesbos from Ayvalık, Turkey, spent almost 20 days on road to reach Holland to where he is living now to seek asylum.

Almost two months after his passage the deal to hold the refugees in Turkey is signed. We talked about why the Syrian people living in Turkey decided to leave.

The whole World grieves for Kurdi yet no one bares responsibility

When Aylan Kurdi’s small body was screened in the shores of Bodrum the ‘whole world’ grieved but nobody felt responsible. Actually what was going on in the Turkish side of the shore was systematic repression, racism, exploitation of labor and the restrictions of freedom of movement. However, the government of Turkey showed itself again as the ‘victim’ because of the flow of refugees. And the Syrians they were the ones to blame…

Some were blamed they were not ‘brave’ enough to fight than came ‘the rents are high because of Syrians’, ‘they stink’, ‘they work for cheap’ or ‘there are ugly images in the shores’.

People are not risking their lives for nothing.

The Turkish state threathens

What the Turkish state demanded from Syrians was and still is ‘obey our rules or leave’. Today the state threatens the people by telling them ‘we will send you back to Syria’.

This desperation, the lack of a future is the reason for the dangerous trip. The people who said ‘Crossing No More’ are taken into camps or the prisons of the Turkish state, beaten and assaulted by the police.

Some of them are on hunger strike, some of them want to kill themselves. The Syrian people in Turkey are no way near to receiving their basic rights.

With the new regulations, enhanced with the visit of Merkel, they are trapped in the cities where they have received their ‘papers’. So number one they do not have freedom of movement. The freedom of movement that the European values insist upon is violated by this deal. This is followed by acquiring a job, education or even a decent meal…

The Syrians want their basic rights

What does the Syrian people want? first they want their basic rights. One of the main reasons they come to Europe is the quest for education. What kind of future will they have without going to schools?

In Turkey Syrians can only become cheap labor

In Turkey they know that they can only become ‘cheap labor’, Europe means hope for them, Europe means future for them. One said that ‘I’d rather die than living here, because I do not have a life here’.

The deal signed from ‘above’ is going to bring misery to the refugees. Merkel’s visit is a dirty deal played on the people who are in the quest for a better life.

This deal will result in the more suffering of the people especially in Turkey, which is ruled by authoritarian Erdoğan who has the chance to implement repression easily and the people who will struggle to reach Europe.

So what do the Syrian people want? First they want to be treated as ‘humans’. The problem is in Turkey is that the Turkish government uses rhetoric more than action. For the last years the JDP government has been using the Syrian issue as a tool not really a policy.

If they have proper rights in Turkey many of them would stay there

The Syrian people are not refugees in Turkey they are named as ‘guests’ and seen as ‘temporary’ residents. With this they can not build a life by being a guest. Apart from the demand crossing no more they want access to fair rights in work and primarily education. If they have proper rights in Turkey many of them would stay there. The Syrian people want their legal rights, not a rhetoric that tells them that ‘feel grateful for what we give you and be quiet or we will send you back’