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Thursday, June 09, 2011 11:30:41 AM
Syrian Refugees Flooding Into Turkey
A man and children in a camp for Syrian refugees in the town of Yayladag, Turkey, on Thursday.
SEBNEM ARSU and KATHERINE ZOEPF June 9, 2011
KARBEYAZ, Turkey — The Turkish government has begun creating a second camp to house Syrian refugees after 1,050 more people crossed the border on Wednesday and Thursday, and a top United Nations official appealed to Damascus to stop the bloodshed that has led people to flee.
In Geneva, Navi Pillay, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, called on Syria to stop the “assault on its own people.”
“It is utterly deplorable for any government to attempt to bludgeon its population into submission, using tanks, artillery and snipers,” Ms. Pillay said in a statement. “I urge the government to halt this assault on its own people’s most fundamental human rights.”
Ms. Pillay said reports suggested that more than 1,100 had been killed, and “10,000 or more” detained.
Since violent clashes broke out last weekend in Jisr al-Shoughour, a northern Syrian town close to this border, more Syrians have been fleeing into Turkey, some bearing tales of black-clad gunmen opening fire on protesters without warning. Many other Syrians, camped out in scrubby fields within sight of the Turkish border, are ready to follow them at the first sign that security forces are pursuing them, those who have crossed say.
Some preferred to seek shelter at the new refugee camp, in Yayladag, Turkey.
“It is really very bad in Jisr al-Shoughour,” said a man who looked to be in his 50s, standing by the camp’s fence. “There are many security forces, heavy army, tanks — they are all around.”
A Turkish police patrol asked him to move inside, and he complied, offering a final comment on refugees: “There are more coming here. It is not possible to stay there.”
Speaking Thursday on Turkish radio, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his concern about the growing violence on Turkey’s 500-mile border with Syria, but sought to reassure the world that the crossings would remain open, NTV, a private television station, reported. “It is impossible for us to close down the border,” Mr. Erdogan said.
He added that he had spoken with the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, three days ago, and that Turkey was following events in Syria “with concern.”
Syrians began crossing into Turkey after the protests against Mr. Assad’s rule began in April. Many have taken advantage of a porous border and the relaxed border controls put in place last year. Some have gradually returned to Syria on their own; Turkish officials have also provided assistance to nearly 260 people sheltered in a tent city less than 40 miles from Hatay, in Turkey’s southeast.
Even Syrian citizens who had entered Turkey legally were not being granted access to search for their friends and relatives.
“I am in charge of the security of these people here, how can I be sure that these Syrians who are trying to get in are not from Syrian intelligence?” a senior policeman in civil outfit asked, behind the bars at the main entrance of the Yayladag camp.
Around the corner, toward the back of the compound, dozens of people — children, women and men — were wandering around trees and tents. Children played on swings in a small outdoor playground.
Residents of nearby villages said that there are thousands camping in Syria just over the borderline, and that many had penetrated through several unofficial crossings. Many of the villages were split between the two countries by borders drawn in the 1920s.
“The military police is now registering around 55 people who have crossed into my land, which is basically an arm’s length from Syria,” said Siddik Donmezer, 42, the owner of a small farm on the Turkish side of the border. Describing the situation in Jisr al-Shoughour, he said, “The regime security forces cut their electricity and randomly storm into their homes in search of youngsters, and once they are taken you never hear back from them.” He said that his cousin, who lives in the Syrian town, describe tanks rolling in the streets.
As he spoke, around seven minibuses filled with children, crossed through the village on way to the second refugee camp, just been established in Altinozu, another residential township by the border.
In Guvecci on Wednesday, about 10 miles from the Syrian border, people overlooked a field in Syria where groups of Syrians, mostly from Jisr al-Shoughour, have camped while trying to decide whether to flee to Turkey.
The circumstances surrounding the violence in Jisr al-Shoughour and some other towns remains murky.
The government has claimed that armed groups it called terrorists had attacked its security forces, possibly after donning military uniforms and infiltrating military ranks. Opposition people, meanwhile, say that military forces opened fire on soldiers who refused orders to fire on civilians or who had defected.
The official Syrian government news agency, SANA, reported Wednesday that members of “terrorist groups” had dressed in military uniforms and filmed themselves committing crimes in order to “manipulate the photos and videos and distort the reputation of the army.” SANA also reported that terrorists had faked a mass grave near a building used by Syria’s security services.
Radwan Ziadeh, a Syrian human rights advocate who is a visiting scholar at George Washington University in Washington, disputed the report. “Of course it is not true,” he said in a telephone interview.
“These armed gangs are the Syrian Army, killing its own members because they are refusing to open fire,” Mr. Ziadeh said. “But state TV cannot say that there are soldiers defecting because it needs to keep discipline in the army against the Syrian people. Always when you hear Syrian TV, you have to believe the opposite.”
A Damascus-based activist named Sami said that three of his relatives from Jisr al-Shoughour had reported that troops from the Syrian Army’s elite Fourth Division, which is led by Maher al-Assad, the brother of the Syrian president, were being brought into the restive region “to finish the soldiers’ uprising quickly.”
The Associated Press also reported that the Fourth Division, far better trained and better equipped than other Syrian Army units, had been sent to the region. If the reports are true, they could suggest another, more forceful crackdown in the coming days.
“The regime is very angry to see soldiers and officers with civilian protesters,” Sami said. “The regime talks about ‘armed groups’ but couldn’t show any photos.”
Joshua Landis, a scholar of Syria and the director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, said the government’s version of events was possible. All Syrian men, he said, must perform military service, and even those who were no longer in the reserves might still have their old uniforms.
The question of military defections, he said, was absolutely crucial for both sides. “Defectors are the opposition’s only hope,” Mr. Landis said. “They hoped the Syrian Army would go the way of Egypt and turn on their president. But this is not happening.”
“The regime is playing that the military is going to stay true because, if it does stay true, there’s no way the opposition can win,” Mr. Landis said. “Bashar al-Assad has modern tanks and helicopters, a well-trained army, and lots of firepower. The opposition has Facebook.”
Meanwhile, Syrian activists reported that protests continued elsewhere, including in the capital, Damascus, in the well-to-do district of Sha’alan, an area with fashionable stores and food stalls.
Human rights advocates circulated a video showing what appeared to be no more than several dozen protesters carrying signs and chanting antigovernment slogans while blocking a street.
But Razan Zeitouneh, a Syrian human rights lawyer, said that the protest drew “about 300” people in the end in what she called the largest protest to date “in the heart of Damascus, in such wealthy area in Damascus.”
Syria’s protest movement has, to date, had very little participation from the wealthy Sunni merchant classes, Syria’s traditional urban elite, so protests like the one in Sha’alan may be a sign that the mood in such areas is shifting, analysts say.
Lina Mansour, a Syrian activist who attended the Sha’alan protest, said the demonstrators chanted, “We are supporting you, Jisr al-Shoughour.”
“The moment we started gathering, dozens of security people appeared,” Ms. Mansour said. “They started bashing cars and beating protesters. They dragged women and men, and one girl was brutally beaten. It’s extremely hard protesting in Damascus.”
Sebnem Arsu reported from Karbeyaz, and Katherine Zoepf from New York. Reporting was contributed by Liam Stack from Cairo; Hwaida Saad from Beirut, Lebanon; David Jolly from Paris; and an employee of The New York Times from Damascus, Syria.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/world/middleeast/10syria.html?hp
A man and children in a camp for Syrian refugees in the town of Yayladag, Turkey, on Thursday.
SEBNEM ARSU and KATHERINE ZOEPF June 9, 2011
KARBEYAZ, Turkey — The Turkish government has begun creating a second camp to house Syrian refugees after 1,050 more people crossed the border on Wednesday and Thursday, and a top United Nations official appealed to Damascus to stop the bloodshed that has led people to flee.
In Geneva, Navi Pillay, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, called on Syria to stop the “assault on its own people.”
“It is utterly deplorable for any government to attempt to bludgeon its population into submission, using tanks, artillery and snipers,” Ms. Pillay said in a statement. “I urge the government to halt this assault on its own people’s most fundamental human rights.”
Ms. Pillay said reports suggested that more than 1,100 had been killed, and “10,000 or more” detained.
Since violent clashes broke out last weekend in Jisr al-Shoughour, a northern Syrian town close to this border, more Syrians have been fleeing into Turkey, some bearing tales of black-clad gunmen opening fire on protesters without warning. Many other Syrians, camped out in scrubby fields within sight of the Turkish border, are ready to follow them at the first sign that security forces are pursuing them, those who have crossed say.
Some preferred to seek shelter at the new refugee camp, in Yayladag, Turkey.
“It is really very bad in Jisr al-Shoughour,” said a man who looked to be in his 50s, standing by the camp’s fence. “There are many security forces, heavy army, tanks — they are all around.”
A Turkish police patrol asked him to move inside, and he complied, offering a final comment on refugees: “There are more coming here. It is not possible to stay there.”
Speaking Thursday on Turkish radio, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his concern about the growing violence on Turkey’s 500-mile border with Syria, but sought to reassure the world that the crossings would remain open, NTV, a private television station, reported. “It is impossible for us to close down the border,” Mr. Erdogan said.
He added that he had spoken with the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, three days ago, and that Turkey was following events in Syria “with concern.”
Syrians began crossing into Turkey after the protests against Mr. Assad’s rule began in April. Many have taken advantage of a porous border and the relaxed border controls put in place last year. Some have gradually returned to Syria on their own; Turkish officials have also provided assistance to nearly 260 people sheltered in a tent city less than 40 miles from Hatay, in Turkey’s southeast.
Even Syrian citizens who had entered Turkey legally were not being granted access to search for their friends and relatives.
“I am in charge of the security of these people here, how can I be sure that these Syrians who are trying to get in are not from Syrian intelligence?” a senior policeman in civil outfit asked, behind the bars at the main entrance of the Yayladag camp.
Around the corner, toward the back of the compound, dozens of people — children, women and men — were wandering around trees and tents. Children played on swings in a small outdoor playground.
Residents of nearby villages said that there are thousands camping in Syria just over the borderline, and that many had penetrated through several unofficial crossings. Many of the villages were split between the two countries by borders drawn in the 1920s.
“The military police is now registering around 55 people who have crossed into my land, which is basically an arm’s length from Syria,” said Siddik Donmezer, 42, the owner of a small farm on the Turkish side of the border. Describing the situation in Jisr al-Shoughour, he said, “The regime security forces cut their electricity and randomly storm into their homes in search of youngsters, and once they are taken you never hear back from them.” He said that his cousin, who lives in the Syrian town, describe tanks rolling in the streets.
As he spoke, around seven minibuses filled with children, crossed through the village on way to the second refugee camp, just been established in Altinozu, another residential township by the border.
In Guvecci on Wednesday, about 10 miles from the Syrian border, people overlooked a field in Syria where groups of Syrians, mostly from Jisr al-Shoughour, have camped while trying to decide whether to flee to Turkey.
The circumstances surrounding the violence in Jisr al-Shoughour and some other towns remains murky.
The government has claimed that armed groups it called terrorists had attacked its security forces, possibly after donning military uniforms and infiltrating military ranks. Opposition people, meanwhile, say that military forces opened fire on soldiers who refused orders to fire on civilians or who had defected.
The official Syrian government news agency, SANA, reported Wednesday that members of “terrorist groups” had dressed in military uniforms and filmed themselves committing crimes in order to “manipulate the photos and videos and distort the reputation of the army.” SANA also reported that terrorists had faked a mass grave near a building used by Syria’s security services.
Radwan Ziadeh, a Syrian human rights advocate who is a visiting scholar at George Washington University in Washington, disputed the report. “Of course it is not true,” he said in a telephone interview.
“These armed gangs are the Syrian Army, killing its own members because they are refusing to open fire,” Mr. Ziadeh said. “But state TV cannot say that there are soldiers defecting because it needs to keep discipline in the army against the Syrian people. Always when you hear Syrian TV, you have to believe the opposite.”
A Damascus-based activist named Sami said that three of his relatives from Jisr al-Shoughour had reported that troops from the Syrian Army’s elite Fourth Division, which is led by Maher al-Assad, the brother of the Syrian president, were being brought into the restive region “to finish the soldiers’ uprising quickly.”
The Associated Press also reported that the Fourth Division, far better trained and better equipped than other Syrian Army units, had been sent to the region. If the reports are true, they could suggest another, more forceful crackdown in the coming days.
“The regime is very angry to see soldiers and officers with civilian protesters,” Sami said. “The regime talks about ‘armed groups’ but couldn’t show any photos.”
Joshua Landis, a scholar of Syria and the director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, said the government’s version of events was possible. All Syrian men, he said, must perform military service, and even those who were no longer in the reserves might still have their old uniforms.
The question of military defections, he said, was absolutely crucial for both sides. “Defectors are the opposition’s only hope,” Mr. Landis said. “They hoped the Syrian Army would go the way of Egypt and turn on their president. But this is not happening.”
“The regime is playing that the military is going to stay true because, if it does stay true, there’s no way the opposition can win,” Mr. Landis said. “Bashar al-Assad has modern tanks and helicopters, a well-trained army, and lots of firepower. The opposition has Facebook.”
Meanwhile, Syrian activists reported that protests continued elsewhere, including in the capital, Damascus, in the well-to-do district of Sha’alan, an area with fashionable stores and food stalls.
Human rights advocates circulated a video showing what appeared to be no more than several dozen protesters carrying signs and chanting antigovernment slogans while blocking a street.
But Razan Zeitouneh, a Syrian human rights lawyer, said that the protest drew “about 300” people in the end in what she called the largest protest to date “in the heart of Damascus, in such wealthy area in Damascus.”
Syria’s protest movement has, to date, had very little participation from the wealthy Sunni merchant classes, Syria’s traditional urban elite, so protests like the one in Sha’alan may be a sign that the mood in such areas is shifting, analysts say.
Lina Mansour, a Syrian activist who attended the Sha’alan protest, said the demonstrators chanted, “We are supporting you, Jisr al-Shoughour.”
“The moment we started gathering, dozens of security people appeared,” Ms. Mansour said. “They started bashing cars and beating protesters. They dragged women and men, and one girl was brutally beaten. It’s extremely hard protesting in Damascus.”
Sebnem Arsu reported from Karbeyaz, and Katherine Zoepf from New York. Reporting was contributed by Liam Stack from Cairo; Hwaida Saad from Beirut, Lebanon; David Jolly from Paris; and an employee of The New York Times from Damascus, Syria.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/world/middleeast/10syria.html?hp
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