Fortress Europe Border Updates
Overview & Background on Edirne
An overview of the location, situation and events a the Turkish/Greek border
Edirne, Karaağaç, Pazarkule; camp, jungle, closed area, village, city. For us who are or were on the ground, it’s clear what we mean by each, but the same can't be expected of you. This post is therefore meant to give you a comprehensive description of the location and situation at the Turkish- Greek border.
Several organisations are officially active on the ground right now. Those are:
There are no official numbers on people staying inside the closed area at Pazarkule. From our research, we estimate there to be around 15.000 people. They have all been registered by fingerprints. Those who have not been registered in Turkey before have trouble getting registered at the camp, but most of the officers registering people are turning a blind eye.
People are sleeping in the mud in makeshift tents. There are some toilets but not nearly enough. There are no facilities to shower or even wash hands. Men and children resort to cleaning themselves in the river as well as possible.
Every day, around 200-250 people are allowed to leave the camp and go to Karaağaç to purchase food or whatever else they can find in the village. They cannot however go to Edirne or anywhere else.
To leave the camp, people start lining up at 4am. The first ones are allowed to leave from 6am on. From then on and until 8pm, some people are allowed to exit the camp every 10min.
It seems to be the policy that everyone is allowed to leave once per week, however several people have not been able to leave the site for two weeks as the slots are limited.
New arrivals to Pazarkule have not been accepted for several days now.
Food has been distributed inside the camp, however people need to line up for hours to receive it and it is oftentimes not enough to feed everyone. People sometimes get beaten randomly by police for not queuing properly (i.e. stepping a few centimetres aside). In the last few days, the food distribution has been limited even more - apparently in an effort to clear the camp.
Police is everywhere, both official and undercover, both inside the camp as well as in Karaağaç. Inside the camp they have often functioned as agitators, supplying people with tools to tear down or cut the border fence. In the last few days however that seems to have stopped. In Karaağaç, they are strictly checking all cars and asking anyone for their purpose of staying in Karaağaç.
Since Friday, the camp has slowly been cleared due to Corona. There are still thousands of people there, but no specific numbers are available. Those who have a legal status in Turkey are able to go to other parts of the country. Those who actually have a status but had their documents taken from them by the Greeks are in uncertainty now: they will not get deported, but it is also unclear if or how they can get new documents (which is the prerequisite for them to receive any kind of aid by Turkish authorities as well as NGOs). Those who do not have a legal status have no perspective at all in Turkey and are thus determined to stay at the border, clinging to the last hope of making it to Greece somehow.
They are given the choice of either trying to cross the border or being taken to Istanbul, where hundreds, maybe thousands of people are already stranded in parks and on bus stations.
We have no information on what the plan of Turkish authorities is for the refugees, especially with regards to COVID-19.
There are reports that women and children are taken to Red Crescent camps, sometimes being separated in the process. That is all we know for now.
Volunteers have regularly been checked by police – undercover as well as official officers. Eva and Lorenz have been told to stop distributing supplies on Sunday. Due to this increasing pressure as well as the ongoing dissolution of the camp due to Corona, Lorenz relocated to Istanbul and connected with other volunteers there to support the refugees stranded in parks and bus stations. Eva was ordered to leave Turkey by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs (due to COVID-19) and continues with her support from back home as much as possible.
We are however still supporting our trusted local contacts at the border with donations – the locals are still able to distribute. We will continue doing so as long as it is still needed and as long as the donations allow it.
Any amount you can contribute is hugely appreciated!
Edirne, Karaağaç, Pazarkule; camp, jungle, closed area, village, city. For us who are or were on the ground, it’s clear what we mean by each, but the same can't be expected of you. This post is therefore meant to give you a comprehensive description of the location and situation at the Turkish- Greek border.
Several organisations are officially active on the ground right now. Those are:
There are no official numbers on people staying inside the closed area at Pazarkule. From our research, we estimate there to be around 15.000 people. They have all been registered by fingerprints. Those who have not been registered in Turkey before have trouble getting registered at the camp, but most of the officers registering people are turning a blind eye.
People are sleeping in the mud in makeshift tents. There are some toilets but not nearly enough. There are no facilities to shower or even wash hands. Men and children resort to cleaning themselves in the river as well as possible.
Every day, around 200-250 people are allowed to leave the camp and go to Karaağaç to purchase food or whatever else they can find in the village. They cannot however go to Edirne or anywhere else.
To leave the camp, people start lining up at 4am. The first ones are allowed to leave from 6am on. From then on and until 8pm, some people are allowed to exit the camp every 10min.
It seems to be the policy that everyone is allowed to leave once per week, however several people have not been able to leave the site for two weeks as the slots are limited.
New arrivals to Pazarkule have not been accepted for several days now.
Food has been distributed inside the camp, however people need to line up for hours to receive it and it is oftentimes not enough to feed everyone. People sometimes get beaten randomly by police for not queuing properly (i.e. stepping a few centimetres aside). In the last few days, the food distribution has been limited even more - apparently in an effort to clear the camp.
Police is everywhere, both official and undercover, both inside the camp as well as in Karaağaç. Inside the camp they have often functioned as agitators, supplying people with tools to tear down or cut the border fence. In the last few days however that seems to have stopped. In Karaağaç, they are strictly checking all cars and asking anyone for their purpose of staying in Karaağaç.
Since Friday, the camp has slowly been cleared due to Corona. There are still thousands of people there, but no specific numbers are available. Those who have a legal status in Turkey are able to go to other parts of the country. Those who actually have a status but had their documents taken from them by the Greeks are in uncertainty now: they will not get deported, but it is also unclear if or how they can get new documents (which is the prerequisite for them to receive any kind of aid by Turkish authorities as well as NGOs). Those who do not have a legal status have no perspective at all in Turkey and are thus determined to stay at the border, clinging to the last hope of making it to Greece somehow.
They are given the choice of either trying to cross the border or being taken to Istanbul, where hundreds, maybe thousands of people are already stranded in parks and on bus stations.
We have no information on what the plan of Turkish authorities is for the refugees, especially with regards to COVID-19.
There are reports that women and children are taken to Red Crescent camps, sometimes being separated in the process. That is all we know for now.
Volunteers have regularly been checked by police – undercover as well as official officers. Eva and Lorenz have been told to stop distributing supplies on Sunday. Due to this increasing pressure as well as the ongoing dissolution of the camp due to Corona, Lorenz relocated to Istanbul and connected with other volunteers there to support the refugees stranded in parks and bus stations. Eva was ordered to leave Turkey by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs (due to COVID-19) and continues with her support from back home as much as possible.
We are however still supporting our trusted local contacts at the border with donations – the locals are still able to distribute. We will continue doing so as long as it is still needed and as long as the donations allow it.
Any amount you can contribute is hugely appreciated!
