A talk event where Yoshifumi KAWABATA, a photo-journalist, and Yoshifumi KAGEHIRA of AAR Japan Tokyo Office discuss emergency assistance for Syrian refugees will be held 8F Yaezu Book Center from 19:00 on March 3rd, 2015.
Photo-journalist Yoshifumi KAWABATA reports on the daily lives of Syrian refugees in Turkey, who fled from the turmoil of war in their home country, through the article and photographs below. The report, the second of the series, is about a boy who lost his brother and both of his legs en route to crossing the border.
Wael (age 13) was lying down in a gloomy warehouse walled by cold, grey concrete slabs, with only the lower half of his body covered by a blanket. Beside him was his father Obaida (age 55), fixing his son’s blanket.
Obaida and his family had lived in a small village near Ayn al-Arab (Kobane in Kurdish) in Northern Syria until they reached Suruc in southern Turkey about two months ago. The family led a calm and peaceful life in the village, with Obaida working as a seasonal laborer, until one day a bomb attacked the neighboring house. The houses collapsed and exploded, and vehicles burned. The local people were running about crying, said Obaida.
Photo-journalist Yoshifumi KAWABATA reports on the daily lives of Syrian refugees in Turkey, who fled from the turmoil of war in their home country, through the article and photographs below. The report, the second of the series, is about a boy who lost his brother and both of his legs en route to crossing the border.
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| Wael, who lost his legs to a landmine, and his father (December, 2014) |
Wael (age 13) was lying down in a gloomy warehouse walled by cold, grey concrete slabs, with only the lower half of his body covered by a blanket. Beside him was his father Obaida (age 55), fixing his son’s blanket.
Obaida and his family had lived in a small village near Ayn al-Arab (Kobane in Kurdish) in Northern Syria until they reached Suruc in southern Turkey about two months ago. The family led a calm and peaceful life in the village, with Obaida working as a seasonal laborer, until one day a bomb attacked the neighboring house. The houses collapsed and exploded, and vehicles burned. The local people were running about crying, said Obaida.
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| The warehouse where Obaida’s family takes shelter. |
Obaida decided to abandon everything to take refuge in Turkey in order to save his family. His car was destroyed by the air raid, but his relatives offered for him to use theirs. Although the village is only about ten kilometers away from the Turkish border when taking the major road, Obaida had to take a detour as the said road was under the control of the armed insurgents, the Islamic State. He and his family reached the border zone through the alternate route. However, they could not proceed further to the border gate. It turned out that the Islamic State had seized the access route to the gate as well. Furthermore, the gate itself was said to be closed because of the worsened relationship between Turkey and Syria. The Obaidas stayed in the border zone for three days, surviving on the food brought from home. But they finally gave up on passing through the gate by car, and decided to instead cross the border on foot.
When Obaida and his 12 children were proceeding to the border on foot, a huge pillar of fire suddenly exploded with a roar. At the same time, the entire body of his eldest son Khalil (age 18) flew into the air. The family could not understand what was happening at first, but soon after realized that Khalil had stepped on one of the landmines laid down on the border zone.
Wael, having been close to Khalil at the time, was also caught up in the explosion. He and Khalil, covered in blood, were immediately taken to a hospital in Suruc by a Turkish army’s vehicle. Regrettably, Khalil’s life could not be saved.
Wael received treatments at a large hospital and survived, but lost his two legs below the knees. He did not eat or try to move his body for 25 days. It was only recently that he started to eat and talk with his family. Even these days, however, Wael often becomes absent minded, with his eyes staring into space when he recalls the accident.
Wael’s parents find it most agonizing when he asks “Where is Khalil?”. He asks the question almost every day. The family is anxious about Wael’s wounded heart, and does not tell him what really happened, but simply tells him that Khalil is away for work for a while.
The Turkish government waived future treatment charges, and provided Wael with a wheelchair for free. However, Obaida cannot work, as he has to take Wael to the hospital every other day. The family makes a scanty living, buying little food with the money they brought from home. They are uncertain how long they can continue such a life. They have received emergency relief support only once from Support to Life (STL), a local partner organization of AAR Japan. The family must start preparing themselves for the severe winter that is approaching.
Obaida strongly appealed, with tears in his eyes, “I am certain that the Japanese people understand well what difficult conditions we are in and how painful we feel, since your people had been defeated in a war. We, of course, appreciate the support of food and goods, but our utmost desire is the support of heart and mind.”
Considering the political situation the refugees are in, the people in this report are referred to in pseudonyms.
Crossing the Turkish Boarder
By Yoshifumi KAGEHIRA of AAR Japan Tokyo Office, in charge of relief assistance for Syrian refugees
The border between Syria and Turkey is 900 kilometers long. Several gates are installed along the border, through which Syrians enter Turkey during peacetime. However, refugees who flee from the turmoil of war do not necessarily cross these gates. Approaching a gate can be extremely dangerous due to the continuing conflicts around it. In recent cases, the movement of people is restricted by armed insurgents of the Islamic State controlling the area. Under such circumstances, people try to enter Turkey through alternative routes, as seen in the case of the Obaida family.
Entering Turkey through anything other than the gates is usually prohibited by the Turkish government. Other modes of entry are tolerated during cases of emergencies such as the Kobane crisis. However, such alternatives entail great dangers. Landmines are scattered along some areas of the border as a result of long tensions between Syria and Turkey in the past several decades .While many lives are saved through seeking refuge in Turkey after crossing the border without using the gates, but there are also those who lose their lives to the mines, like the case of Khalil.
From a humanitarian viewpoint, the Turkish government used to have a generous stance towards the in-coming and out-going of people between Syria and Turkey. It was possible for some Syrian refugees to cross the border to see their families in Syria or for work purposes. But nowadays the government is tightening their border control. Syrians used to be allowed to enter Turkey without a passport. They are now prohibited to enter Turkey without one, unless during an emergency.
The Turkish immigration policy was changed against a backdrop of an increase in the power of the fundamentalism forces, such as the Islamic State in Syria. The current Turkish policy is aimed to block anybody related to the Islamic State from entering Turkey, and to prevent those who intend to join the Islamic State from entering Syria. Today, the issuance of passports in Syria is highly limited and, accordingly, movements across the border are extremely restricted. Syrian refugees in Turkey nowadays cannot go to see their families in Syria or find work there. The increasing power of Islamic fundamentalism forces such as the Islamic State in Syria is affecting the people’s daily lives.
[Reporter] Yoshifumi KAWABATA
KAWABATA is a photo journalist. Travelling worldwide, he contributes photos and documents to magazines and other publications. In 2014, a set of five of his photos, “Refugee children from Syria”, won a gold prize at a contest sponsored by Japan Photographers’ Society (JPS). He has also published a book, “The world a photographer has seen - creeping on the ground is my job”, under Shinhyoron Publisher (Profile as of the date of the article).
Japanese-English translation by Mr. Yukio Kiuchi
English editing by Ms. Alice Chee
The article on this page has been translated by volunteers as part of the AAR Japan's Volunteer Programme. Their generous contributions allow us to spread our activities and ideas globally, through an ever-growing selection of our reports from the field.