Arab diaspora

Some 200 Syrian refugees protesting in Athens on Friday asked to be allowed access to other European countries, fearing deteriorating conditions in crisis-hit Greece.
      

A photo showing a young female Syrian refugee trying to warm her hands with the heat from the exhaust of a public bus in Istanbul went viral on Nov. 27, revealing the desperate situation for Syrians who have fled their homes due to war.

“When it comes to foreseeing the refugee crisis, I’d give the Turkish government a score of 2 out of 10. But in terms of the humanitarian aspect, I’d give it an 8 or even 9 out of 10,” Murat Erdoğan, the head of the Migration and Politics Research Center at Ankara’s Hacettepe University, told me. He was speaking at a recent panel organized by the European Liberal Forum.

Turkish authorities will issue temporary ID cards to Syrian refugees in the country, announced Faruk Celik, Turkish Minister of Labour and Social Security at a press conference, quoted the BNR public broadcaster.

According to Celik, this will grant Syrian refugees the right to work and be insured according to Turkish labour legislation.

With Turkey struggling to meet the basic needs of around 1.7 million Syrian refugees, the government is now planning to issue temporary identity cards for Syrians in order to allow their employment within a legal framework.

Visa policies are causing Turkey to become a way station for refugees from around the world hoping to cross into Europe, a parliamentary report says Turkey has increasingly become a bridge for human trafficking, as citizens of developing countries exploit its visa exemption policies to use its territory as a stepping stone to reach Europe, according to a parliamentary report.

Greek police say two men, believed to have been Syrian refugees who entered the country illegally, have been hit by a train and killed close to Greeces eastern border with Turkey.

The train driver was arrested hours later and told police he didn't realize he had struck the men, who had been walking along a foggy stretch of track early Friday.

Turkey’s major Mediterranean hub of Antalya has barred illegal Syrian refugees from entering the city in a move that local officials have said aims to prevent a “refugee flow” to one of the country’s major tourism centers.

The international community is accused of not doing enough to support countries hosting massive influx of Syrian refugees, with a Berlin meeting urging further cooperation Syria’s neighbors have urged the international community, particularly European countries, to open their doors to more refugees from the three-and-a-half-year civil war, and for immediate financial and technological help a

Germany's foreign minister called Oct. 28 for a "vow of solidarity" from the international community for millions of Syrian refugees and the countries such as Lebanon struggling to host them.