Avni

The "Atatürk and Independence Road March," which lasted for four days, has ended on the 95-kilometer Independence Road route, where the weapons and ammunition arriving at İnebolu Port in the northern province of Kastamonu were transported to Anatolia during the War of Independence.

Many refugees from the 1992-95 war in former Yugoslav Bosnia had already settled in the neighbourhood, he said.

"I remember those white sheets, so clean and nice, coming from a refugee camp with dust and everything," said Avni, now 30, who spoke on condition his real name not be disclosed.

"It was basically a country where you could heal from the war and feel welcome."

"Looking at these photographs after so many years, it certainly provokes emotions," recalls Ndricim Baci, who was then 22 and had left for Malta with his 15-year-old brother, Avni.

"Twenty-eight years have passed but I still remember those dramatic moments," adds Baci, who together with his family now lives and works in Italy.