Syrian Refugees in Türkiye Plan Caravan to Reach EU

Refugees on their way from Türkiye to the Greek island of Lesbos across the Aegean Sea (AFP)
Refugees on their way from Türkiye to the Greek island of Lesbos across the Aegean Sea (AFP)
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Syrian Refugees in Türkiye Plan Caravan to Reach EU

Refugees on their way from Türkiye to the Greek island of Lesbos across the Aegean Sea (AFP)
Refugees on their way from Türkiye to the Greek island of Lesbos across the Aegean Sea (AFP)

A group of Syrian refugees in Türkiye is planning to form a caravan to reach the European Union, organizers said Saturday.

Plans are being drawn up online via a Telegram channel, set up six days ago and followed by almost 70,000 people. Organizers are calling on people to bring sleeping bags, tents, life jackets, water, canned food and first aid kits.

"We will announce it when it's time to go," one organizer, a 46-year-old refugee who wished to remain anonymous, told AFP.

Some of the organizers already lived in the EU, he added.

Organizers say the caravan will be split into groups of up to 50 people, each led by a supervisor.

"We have been in Türkiye for 10 years," read one message posted on the channel by an administrator. "We are protected... but Western countries must share the burden."

There are 3.7 million Syrian refugees officially living in Türkiye.

Syria's civil war, which began with a brutal crackdown of anti-government protests in 2011, has killed nearly half a million people and forced around half of the country's pre-war population from their homes.

Many Syrian refugees in Türkiye fear being sent back, especially after a recent shift in Türkiye's stance towards Damascus.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he is preparing to send back one million Syrian refugees on a voluntary basis.

In February and March 2020, tens of thousands of migrants approached the land border between Türkiye and Greece, after Erdogan threatened to keep the borders with Europe open.



Sisi, King Abdullah Agree that Gaza Should Be Rebuilt Without Displacing Palestinians

Palestinians travel from the southern Gaza Strip towards the north following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Netzarim Corridor, central Gaza Strip, 12 February 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Palestinians travel from the southern Gaza Strip towards the north following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Netzarim Corridor, central Gaza Strip, 12 February 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
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Sisi, King Abdullah Agree that Gaza Should Be Rebuilt Without Displacing Palestinians

Palestinians travel from the southern Gaza Strip towards the north following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Netzarim Corridor, central Gaza Strip, 12 February 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Palestinians travel from the southern Gaza Strip towards the north following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Netzarim Corridor, central Gaza Strip, 12 February 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordanian King Abdullah II said that Gaza should be rebuilt without displacing Palestinians, Egypt's presidency said in a statement reporting a phone call between the two on Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump has continued to push for a plan to resettle the Palestinian population to both Egypt and Jordan, a proposal both countries have rejected repeatedly.

King Abdullah rejected any mass displacement of Palestinians after meeting with Trump on Tuesday.

During the meeting at the White House, Abdullah volunteered to accept up to 2,000 children from Gaza who have cancer or otherwise require medical treatment.
But in a post on X after the meeting, he “reiterated Jordan’s steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank," adding that it was a "unified Arab position.”

The Palestinians also reject Trump's plan, which they view as an attempt to forcibly displace them from part of their homeland.