1/21/2016 #crossingnomore: “We don’t want to drown no more!” | bordermonitoring.eu

http://bordermonitoring.eu/tuerkei/2015/09/busofhope­from­istanbul/ 1/3

Mathias Fiedler, Istanbul

It has been in planning for some time. While many people are trying to escape at Izmir and

Bodrum via boat for quite a long time now. Especially in the warlike areas at the borders with

Syria and Iraq, the pogroms against Kurdish civilians and hundreds of HDP offices and Kurdish

shops destroyed the hope for many migrants to find a peaceful life in Turkey. Yet, after hearing

the good news of thousands welcomed to Europe, people have found new hope.  The group called

out for a protest via Social Networks and informed Media and humanitarian organizations about

it. The first sentence reads as follows:

TÜRKEI

#CROSSINGNOMORE: “WE DON’T WANTTO DROWN NO MORE!”17. SEPTEMBER 2015 | BK

bordermonitoring.eu

1/21/2016 #crossingnomore: “We don’t want to drown no more!” | bordermonitoring.eu

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Because of the death of too many of our brothers and the fatal risks they have to take tocross the border from Turkey to Greece in order to make a better life for themselves, weare planning to gather at the border around Edirne on 15th of September 2015 and claimfor our right to cross it safely.

Undoubtedly, the unlicensed protest directed the attention to the situation of the refugees in

Turkey. It was planned as a peaceful demonstration with thousands holding signs. Already on

Monday night hundreds of refugees left their cities to Edirne. Many tried to walk to the border

with Greece at Pazarkule but could not cross it. 250 people were able to reach Edirne by foot and

ended at the bus terminal. There they staged a sit-in. Police and Gendarmerie blocked many

others from entering the city. Some were convinced to return to Istanbul. More than 1000 people

entered again the city of Edirne, but were blocked from going to the border with buses. More

than 600 people are currently blocked at the bus station, some of them have started a hunger-

strike.

Hundreds of people have also got stuck at the bus station in Istanbul and the police locked the

area with barricades and a bulldozer. Currently the refugees are not allowed to buy tickets from

the companies. The media is not allowed to enter the scene. During the day the German

Chancellor Angela Merkel had a phone conversation with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President

of Turkey. In the press release of the German government from Wednesday it is mentioned that

they talked about working closer together, tackling the „refugee crisis“ and „combating the

criminal activities of smugglers“. This sounds ironic when juxtaposed to another statement,

coming from the press release of the Edirne protest:

1/21/2016 #crossingnomore: “We don’t want to drown no more!” | bordermonitoring.eu

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It’s important to believe that our cause is right and the concerned agencies should take theresponsibility to work with migrants. Therefore, we prepared a petition that we all inviteyou to sign and support.

The protest of the revolting people at the Istanbul bus station is targeting especially Turkey, by

holding Turkish flags and signs with slogans addressing Germany’s Chancellor. Other signs are

thematizing the problems, which migrants have in Turkey. They state that no more people should

be let to drown. Today again more than 20 people drowned at the coast in Bodrum. Even in the

Istanbul quarter of Aksaray the selling of life jackets has increasingly become a business.

The protest of migrants, fleeing from broken homes and looking for a new life this time  got more

attention than the exodus of more than 30 buses, that tried to move through the Turkish-

Bulgarian border in June 2015. During the new occupation of the bus stations in Istanbul and

Edirne, the migrants stated that they will not surrender until they are allowed to cross the border

peacefully. Winter is coming soon, so there is no doubt that the people who are reclaiming their

rights to move freely and who have been caught into the limbo of a political and humanitarian

crisis, will be trying their luck by the end of the long summer of migration. They have nothing to

lose.