Rakan*, a young man from Syria, tells a story, on the occasion of International Friendship Day, what role friendship plays in the context of European border violence and pushbacks. He has tried to cross into  Greece three times in the last two months and has been pushed back by force every time. Each attempt he ventured on with his four friends, with some attempts including other people in his  group. The five friends have known each other for several years. They met in Turkey and share the experiences of everyday life in Turkey, which is marked by racism, discrimination and deprivation for all of them

Rakan fled Rakka in Syria in 2018, a city that was completely destroyed by IS. Since then, he has lived with his mother and brother in Istanbul while working simultaneously in a tailor shop and a carpentry business to earn  enough money to cover the costs of  food and rent. He recounts:

"The financial difficulties were not the problem for me and not the reason why I want to leave Turkey. Rather, I am burdened by the constant racism. As Syrians, we are not seen as equals, we are constantly discriminated against. We have bad chances when looking for work or housing, we are simply not seen as equal people with equal rights."

That is why Rakan, together with his friends, set out for the Greek border with hope for a change. He reports:

"The first time we walked for a day, then we were caught, it was us four friends, four more guys and a family with small children. We all had our mobile phones and backpacks taken away, as well as money and clothes. We were detained in prison for 12 hours and brutally beaten there. It was not human behaviour, absolutely not. They treated us in a way that would be unworthy of animals. All the officers wore masks and you could only see their evil eyes while you were being beaten."

On the second attempt, the five friends  were abandoned on one of the islands in the border river Evros, again without clothes and shoes. They had to swim through the river in their underwear to get back to the Turkish side.

The third time was about 20 days ago, Rakan cries as he tells the story. The plan was to get to a refugee camp near the Turkish border. Once again it was the five friends, this time with two families they had met in Edirne. At three o'clock in the morning, shortly before they would have reached the camp, they were discovered and captured. Again, all their belongings were stolen by the Greek officials, and

"everyone was beaten, including the women, old and young, even the children".

They were pushed one after the other into a narrow trunk of a car  and driven over a bumpy road; there was hardly any air to breathe in the car, Rakan explains. After about four kilometres, the car stopped again and they were taken out of the trunk one by one, beaten and undressed, then put aside to watch the others being beaten. When the officers had injured them all, they were forced back into the car and taken to a prison. Several times they asked the Greek police for water: "Please, please give us water", but there was no answer, nor were they given water, food or access to a toilet. There were many people in the prison and new ones were brought there throughout the day. After one day, about 150 people, including children, were put into military vehicles. Rakan describes the events thus:  

"they piled 50-55 people on top of each other in one car, I thought I was going to suffocate. You couldn't breathe, you couldn't move. We were driven like this for 45 minutes, then we arrived at the border river. There we were, let out of the car one by one again, and beaten again. They searched all the people to see if anyone had managed to hide money, mobile phones or documents somewhere. We also all had to take off our shoes. Then we were forced into the boats, 12 people per boat, even though actually only six could fit. A boat next to ours capsized, but no one reacted - we shouted that they had to help the families in the water, but they just said whoever falls into the water has to swim. We were then left in the boat in the middle of the river. The water there was waist high and we were able to walk through the river back to Turkey."

Now Rakan is back in Edirne, together with his friends they have found accommodation and are waiting for there to be a safe way to Europe at some point. At the moment, they are helping the Josoor team on the ground to translate and distribute food to the people who are stranded there.

Two of them tried again to cross, this time at the Bulgarian border. When they returned, they told Rakan about the police there and the attacks by the police dogs. Rakan could no longer try to cross, he had endured too much physical and psychological torture at the hands of Europe.

"We had hoped that Europe would be more humane and respect human rights. We wanted to escape from despair, hopelessness and discrimination, but it only got worse and worse, no one grants us our rights."

He is glad to have his friends around him. He describes how violence by Europe can break people, how so many despair psychologically. But Rakan also describes the great solidarity and cohesion among them. Water and food are shared, even in prison in Greece, where those who could hide something from the police shared their water and food with the people around them. They share experiences and warn others about what to expect during the pushbacks. Rakan believes that it is best to try to escape to Europe with close friends so that you do not  despair and give up along the way - because

"a friend doesn't give up on you or abandon you".

He says it is best to do it with close friends, like his, whom he knows well and can always rely on and trust, even in extreme situations. It helps, he says, to have gone through the experience together, to give each other courage and comfort in order to come to terms with the trauma.

"We are all psychologically exhausted, we are finished. And it is good that we have each other to talk about it and are not alone with our pain."

Rakan calls on Europe to:

"Look at what is happening here. You have to help the people. The EU says it acts according to humanity and legality. I wish you would look. Maybe many people don't know about the horror and violence happening at the border, but I wish that people in Europe would pay attention and help.”