“For me if they send me to Syria, they sentence me to death because of being in the army”
The respondent has tried 5 times to cross from Turkey to Greece, each time they have been pushed back. The first 3 times they did not experience any violence. On the fifth try however they were with a group of men and a woman, one of the men's wife who was beaten.
The group had walked more than 14 hours to reach the river (Evros) to cross from Turkey into Greece. They began their journey at approximately 1am in the morning and arrived at the river at 5am. They crossed the first river and arrived to the small island. They took a break there. At 10pm that night they crossed the river with a small boat, arriving on the Greek side. They walked towards a fence close to the highway where there was a small opening, and they entered through and crossed to the other side. They crossed over the bridge. At approximately 2.30am the police came.
The police took them in a big white van to an unidentified centre, leaving them in the van for two hours. Then they brought them to the river.
When they arrived under the bridge they saw men in military clothes who he referred to as ‘comandos’. They shone a light in their face and ordered them to lie down. They began beating them by stepping on their backs and heads. Then they made the group stand up one by one, beating them with sticks of iron, wood or plastic. They took everyones bags which contained food, water and clothes. They inspected everyone in the group and wallets, cell phones, personal documents and ripped up documents, even passports. The respondent didn’t have their phone or passport on them, but they had 400 euro taken.
We told them we wanted to apply for international protection and about the asylum system. They cursed at us and beat us. There was a minor (16’ years old) with the group. They beat him in the head.
The people inside the boats were different from the police. Those in the boats delivered them to the Turkish side. The first group of police were wearing police clothes, blue pants and shirts. The people inside the boat were wearing civilian clothes, one gun and a walkie talkie.
The respondent is now in Turkey and is increasingly worried about the situation their for Syrians. ‘They deport a lot of people, so many people. They even deport some people who have legal status, for me if they send me to Syria, they sentence me to death because of being in the army’. Whilst in Syria the respondent had been involved in the Free Syrian Army.