Syrian Refugees in Turkey: Police Are Forcing Us From Homes
Syrian Refugees in Turkey: Police Are Forcing Us From Homes
Turkish police are going house to house in this border province issuing an ultimatum, Syrian refugees say: Either move into a refugee camp or go back to Syria.
More than a half dozen Syrian refugees living in rented homes in Antakya and the nearby town of Yayladagi offered similar descriptions to CNN of the stark choice recently imposed by local Turkish authorities.
“I told one cop, ‘What if I don’t leave?’” said a male Syrian refugee who asked not to be named to protect him from Turkish and Syrian government reprisals. “He said, ‘We will take you to the police station and force you to evacuate’” your home.
“The first time the police came, they asked for my passport, took a look at it, and then one of them said, ‘You have three months, you can stay here for three months,’” said another Syrian man who asked to be named as Abu Ahmed to protect his family members still living in Syria.
“Then 20 days later they came back,” he said. “I wasn’t home but my wife was, and they made her sign a paper to evacuate ourselves from this house within four days.”
At least a half dozen other Syrian refugees have told similar stories of Turkish police ordering them to abandon homes that they have rented here in Turkey.