A Syrian refugee is arrested for criticizing Turkey on BBC, another one is being sought by the police.

Two young Syrian refugees trying to enter Greece at the Turkish border dared to talk to a BBC reporter about the conditions refugees face in Turkey. They never thought this would force one of them to jail and the other one into hiding.

Turkey received huge amounts of aid from Europe to take care of the Syrian refugees fleeing the war that devastated their country. One condition for this “aid” was to keep them away from Europe. However, Turkey became greedy and calculated that the blackmail scheme they employed could grow and continue if only the refugees kept pouring into the country and Europe kept paying to keep them at a safe distance.

With these hopes, Turkey, with US and NATO support, invaded Syria and openly admitted that its invasion would result in hundreds of thousands of new refugees crossing the border into Turkey from Syria. And, as expected, immediately demanded payouts from Europe.

The new wave of refugees may not have reached the level Turkey expected, but the blackmail funds Turkey expected from Europe never materialized.

The conditions for refugees kept worsening as the Syrians and Afghans and other nationalities entered Turkey with the sole hope to pass through to Europe where the living conditions are much more favorable.

These hardships that the refugees face in Turkey were the subject the unlucky Syrian happened to opine to BBC in a candid interview when approached.

Refugees became the major source of exploitation in Turkey as their labor was bought nearly half the going rate in the local labor markets. They became the targets of racist, xenophobic, nationalist attacks. Women were exploited sexually and their children were harassed by nationalist gangs who blamed the foreigners for anything and everything that was wrong with the society.

When the Syrian adventure went south for Turkey and hopes of open and unconditional US support fizzled, Turkey decided to play the bog hand by attacking Europe and punishing the EU for not providing the billions of dollars it needs to vitalize the sinking economy. The floodgates were opened to Europe with Turkish officials even assisting the desperate to cross the border to Greece, as if taking revenge.

The young Syrian who answered the BBC question at the border where the refugees were trying to storm the Greece border said, “At the border I do not see many Syrians. Everybody is from somewhere else. Syrians are just about 25% here, the rest are Afghanis. We came here to get education. But that never materialized. We never achieved anything. We have been living in Turkey for the last 8 years. Our friends who went to Europe all graduated from colleges. They were taught English there and the living conditions are easier. It is very hard to live and work here. They keep asking us why the Turkish soldiers are fighting in Syria and we are in Turkey. It is as if we asked them to go and rescue us there. You did not enter Syria to save us, you never thought about us, you entered Syria to secure your own borders.”

This interview did not go well with the current government of AKP party in Turkey. An ex-MP from AKP, Şamil Tayyar, called on the government to catch the refugee and sure enough it is reported that the interior ministry has arrested one of the speakers and he has been detained.

The police is seeking the other refugee for telling the world the conditions refugees face in Turkey.

Sendika.Org News (M.B.)