Syrian refugees hold on to life with locals’ help on Istanbul sidewalks

Refugees, including many children, are lined up in the Ragıp Gümüşpala Avenue in Istanbul's central Fatih district, where they live in unsanitary and penurious conditions. DHA Photo / Hakan Kaya

Syrians fleeing their country’s conflict have found some respite in Istanbul, but many compatriots are not so lucky

Syrian families who have fled their country due to ongoing war have found shelter on Istanbul sidewalks and parks, clutching onto life with the help of locals, but others face harsher conditions elsewhere in Turkey.

Ragıp Gümüşpala Avenue in the city’s Fatih district is one of the places in which many Syrian families live on the streets. Refugees, including many children, live in unhygienic conditions without a toilet, according to a July 17 report by the Doğan News Agency.

Istanbul Gov. Hüseyin Avni Mutlu said July 15 that new measures were being considered to deal with the rising number of Syrians living on the streets of Istanbul, which may include sending them to camps in southeastern provinces even without their consent.

The whereabouts of Syrians in the city is under strict monitoring, he said, adding that their total official number was now 67,000.

Istanbul is not the only Turkish city where a large number of Syrian refugees now reside. From the southeastern provinces near the Syrian border to the western metropolis of İzmir, over 1 million Syrians live in refugee camps or on the country’s streets.

While many Turks, like those in Fatih, help the refugees as much as they can, negative reactions have recently become more widespread in other places where “Syrian beggars,” or the cheap labor force provided by the refugees, have irked locals.

Elsewhere in Turkey, the situation is even more complicated. In the southern province of Adana, a suburb called Mirzaçelebi is now known as “Aleppo” because of the...

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