“Single and young men, they sent to Syria.”
The respondents first attempt was on the 15th of February 2019. At 11pm they left Istanbul. At 5 am they arrived at the border. They arrived at an island. They were with 15 persons. They waited for 1 hour until the boats were ready. They crossed the river to the next side. Then they started to walk, they walked for more than 3 hours. Then they arrived to a village. Then, unfortunately, they got caught.
They got caught by the Greek military. They did not speak with them. They just took them to the next side of the river. They did not take anything from them. When they took them to the other side, the Turkish authority was waiting. The Turkish authority took them to a camp in Edirne. They waited for one day there. Then they were sorted into groups; families and single men. Then they took them to Orfa’s camp. There in Urfa they also separated them. Single and young men, they sent to Syria. And they stayed two days in that camp. Then they let them go, released them. Then he came to Istanbul.
They crossed the river to Domatiki. It was night, it was dark. He did not see anything. But he knows that the village’s name was Domatiki. It was dark when they arrived.
He did not see any weapons on the military officers because it was dark. They came with a vehicle. They were speaking English. They just asked him; “are you Syrian”? He said yes. Then they said gently “please follow me.” They did not touch them, they were not violent with any of them. They saw that they were collecting people in one place. At one point he saw 25 persons waiting there. Then they arrived to the river. They separated them into groups. They took five or six each time in a boat. Then they took them to the other side of the river, Turkish territory. After they arrived at the other side, the children were crying.
He did not give attention to what they were wearing. But they were not wearing masks. But he knows that they are military, because only the military is responsible for the borders.
Because they were a family, they spoke gently with them. They did not point at them, they did not do anything but they were scared from the moment they got caught that they might be pushed back to Turkey. This idea was scaring them.
He did not try to speak to them as he knew that they would understand him because he did not speak their language.
Yes, he had his phone and they did not take anything from them. They did not check him at all.
They walked through the lands and there was a road, but not with pavement or stone on it. They did not cross the village. They walked- when they arrived at that point where they were collecting the people. They already checked everything and everybody there, and he was so lucky that that had happened. Then they took all of them together to the river.