Refugee Voices
"The world is taking all hope from us"
Sadeq, a 15 year old boy from Afghanistan, shares his story of loss, violence and pushbacks.
Sadeq* will turn 16 in two weeks. He had grown up in Afghanistan. Two years ago, after a day out with his mum and sister, all three returned home to find all other members of their family had been killed by the Taliban.
At that time Sadeq was 13 years old. His mum, young sister and he sold all they had left and fled Afghanistan with the aim of reaching Europe.
It took them over a year to reach the Turkish border, where all three attempted to cross. Sadeq managed to make it to the other side, but during the crossing he was separated from his mum and sister. He was in possession of their only phone and had no other means of contacting them.
This was eight months ago, and to this day he has been unable to get in contact, and has no idea as to their whereabouts.
His story continues. In Turkey, he was taken to a camp for minors in Antalya. Violence and brutality ruled the camp, and nobody looked after them. After reaching breaking point, he couldn’t take it anymore and left. He worked as much as he could to save money in order to continue his journey to Europe, and fulfill his mother’s only dream.
On Friday 5th of June, he left the Turkish coast to try and reach Greece - for the fifth time. With him were six unaccompanied minors, two women, one child and eleven men from Iran and Afghanistan. Twenty people on one small dinghy.
After only 20 minutes into Turkish waters, a ship of the Greek Coastguard (HCG) arrived and attempted to push their dinghy back by creating waves.
A second, small HCG boat then approached them, with 5 men on board. All of them were wearing black masks, grey shirts and camouflage pants. Two of them carried long sticks. They were used to keep everyone in check by beating them, rendering them unable to prevent a third man with a knife from cutting a hole into their dinghy and the fuel hose. The fourth man on that Greek boat was the driver whilst the fifth kept a lookout for the Turkish Coastguard (TCG).
When the TCG finally approached, the HCG left. Sadeq’s dinghy was slowly sinking, whilst he and others used their shoes and water bottles to furiously scoop the water out.
When daylight broke through, Sadeq went live on a Facebook stream. He pleaded for help from anyone who would listen; saying “we are humans, we deserve to live too”.
The dinghy continued to sink. Some of the other refugees jumped into the water and started swimming while attempting to push the boat towards Greek waters.
The first ship to have approached the refugees and several small boats of the HCG were watching. When the TCG approached, the large HCG ship went between the refugee’s dinghy and the TCG ship to prevent them from filming the incident.
Whilst the HCG and TCG ships were preoccupied with each other, the same HCG boat with the same five men who initially approached them returned. One of the men boarded their dinghy and demanded Sadeq hand over his phone. He attacked him and searched his pockets, but Sadeq had given the phone to someone else on the dinghy. Sadeq was beaten to a point of near unconsciousness. Seconds before he saw no other way but to jump overboard, the guard shouted at him to stay on board, and ceased the attack. The rest of the masked men held onto their dinghy and dragged them back into Turkish waters.
Throughout the journey, Sadeq and the others on board pleaded with them to let them go, that there were children on board and that if they didn’t stop, they would die. One of these masked men looked him in the eye and said: “We don’t care. Die. We want you to die”.
Once in Turkish waters, they let go of the dinghy. It continued to sink, and the HCG ship carried on furiously creating waves to push them back further, whilst the TCG looked on.
Eventually, a Turkish speaking refugee succeeded in pleading with the TCG to take them on board and save them. This was around 10 AM, approximately five hours after they had left the Turkish shore. The dinghy was left abandoned in the Aegean Sea.
On shore, TCG handed them over to the Turkish police. They were taken to a camp in Ayvacik where the camp manager told them they would have to pay if they wanted to leave the camp and that they could only go to Bursa (no reason given). Usually, the bus ticket for that trip would have been approximately 70TL, but he demanded 250TL per person. He threatened them that if they were not to pay, they would start the deportation procedures, claiming “as soon as there are planes again, you will be on them”.
Sadeq and the others requested some friends send them money in order to travel, and gave it to the manager and police. Police then took them to the bus stop in Ayvacik and put them on a bus to Bursa. The group had paid 3500 Lira in total to the police, but Sadeq observed that only 900 Lira was given to the driver.
Since the most recent pushback, Sadeq returned to Istanbul where he is currently managing to stay with friends. Unlike others who have endured the same experience, he has managed to find a job. He will spend his sixteenth birthday in a few weeks the same way he spends every day; working 12 hour shifts for 50TL in a factory with only one break in between.
“We have the right to live and be alive. The world is taking all hope from us.”- Sadeq
*name has been changed for safety reasons
Sadeq* will turn 16 in two weeks. He had grown up in Afghanistan. Two years ago, after a day out with his mum and sister, all three returned home to find all other members of their family had been killed by the Taliban.
At that time Sadeq was 13 years old. His mum, young sister and he sold all they had left and fled Afghanistan with the aim of reaching Europe.
It took them over a year to reach the Turkish border, where all three attempted to cross. Sadeq managed to make it to the other side, but during the crossing he was separated from his mum and sister. He was in possession of their only phone and had no other means of contacting them.
This was eight months ago, and to this day he has been unable to get in contact, and has no idea as to their whereabouts.
His story continues. In Turkey, he was taken to a camp for minors in Antalya. Violence and brutality ruled the camp, and nobody looked after them. After reaching breaking point, he couldn’t take it anymore and left. He worked as much as he could to save money in order to continue his journey to Europe, and fulfill his mother’s only dream.
On Friday 5th of June, he left the Turkish coast to try and reach Greece - for the fifth time. With him were six unaccompanied minors, two women, one child and eleven men from Iran and Afghanistan. Twenty people on one small dinghy.
After only 20 minutes into Turkish waters, a ship of the Greek Coastguard (HCG) arrived and attempted to push their dinghy back by creating waves.
A second, small HCG boat then approached them, with 5 men on board. All of them were wearing black masks, grey shirts and camouflage pants. Two of them carried long sticks. They were used to keep everyone in check by beating them, rendering them unable to prevent a third man with a knife from cutting a hole into their dinghy and the fuel hose. The fourth man on that Greek boat was the driver whilst the fifth kept a lookout for the Turkish Coastguard (TCG).
When the TCG finally approached, the HCG left. Sadeq’s dinghy was slowly sinking, whilst he and others used their shoes and water bottles to furiously scoop the water out.
When daylight broke through, Sadeq went live on a Facebook stream. He pleaded for help from anyone who would listen; saying “we are humans, we deserve to live too”.
The dinghy continued to sink. Some of the other refugees jumped into the water and started swimming while attempting to push the boat towards Greek waters.
The first ship to have approached the refugees and several small boats of the HCG were watching. When the TCG approached, the large HCG ship went between the refugee’s dinghy and the TCG ship to prevent them from filming the incident.
Whilst the HCG and TCG ships were preoccupied with each other, the same HCG boat with the same five men who initially approached them returned. One of the men boarded their dinghy and demanded Sadeq hand over his phone. He attacked him and searched his pockets, but Sadeq had given the phone to someone else on the dinghy. Sadeq was beaten to a point of near unconsciousness. Seconds before he saw no other way but to jump overboard, the guard shouted at him to stay on board, and ceased the attack. The rest of the masked men held onto their dinghy and dragged them back into Turkish waters.
Throughout the journey, Sadeq and the others on board pleaded with them to let them go, that there were children on board and that if they didn’t stop, they would die. One of these masked men looked him in the eye and said: “We don’t care. Die. We want you to die”.
Once in Turkish waters, they let go of the dinghy. It continued to sink, and the HCG ship carried on furiously creating waves to push them back further, whilst the TCG looked on.
Eventually, a Turkish speaking refugee succeeded in pleading with the TCG to take them on board and save them. This was around 10 AM, approximately five hours after they had left the Turkish shore. The dinghy was left abandoned in the Aegean Sea.
On shore, TCG handed them over to the Turkish police. They were taken to a camp in Ayvacik where the camp manager told them they would have to pay if they wanted to leave the camp and that they could only go to Bursa (no reason given). Usually, the bus ticket for that trip would have been approximately 70TL, but he demanded 250TL per person. He threatened them that if they were not to pay, they would start the deportation procedures, claiming “as soon as there are planes again, you will be on them”.
Sadeq and the others requested some friends send them money in order to travel, and gave it to the manager and police. Police then took them to the bus stop in Ayvacik and put them on a bus to Bursa. The group had paid 3500 Lira in total to the police, but Sadeq observed that only 900 Lira was given to the driver.
Since the most recent pushback, Sadeq returned to Istanbul where he is currently managing to stay with friends. Unlike others who have endured the same experience, he has managed to find a job. He will spend his sixteenth birthday in a few weeks the same way he spends every day; working 12 hour shifts for 50TL in a factory with only one break in between.
“We have the right to live and be alive. The world is taking all hope from us.”- Sadeq
*name has been changed for safety reasons
