Learning of a refugee flood, John Stanmeyer went to the border.
Up to 5,000 Syrians from Kobani amass at the border with Turkey on Friday evening, next to the Turkish village of Dikmetas.
Photograph by John Stanmeyer, VII
for National Geographic
At least 66,000 Syrian Kurds streamed into Turkey on Saturday, fleeing
the latest advances of the Islamic State—the violent Sunni group that
has declared a caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq—as it moved further
north in a bid to extend territorial control. The militants’ onslaught
left as many as 40 towns and villages in northern Syria, including the
border city of Ayn al-Arab, called Kobani in Kurdish, virtually empty,
as thousands of men, women and children sought safety.
Turkey has received more than 1.2 million Syrian refugees
since the beginning of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad,
which erupted in spring 2011 and quickly morphed into a vicious civil
war that spawned multiple extremist groups, including the Islamic State.
A sand storm hits Dikmetas Saturday afternoon,
while thousands of Turkish Kurds amass at the border with Syria to help
Syrian Kurds find water and food upon the arrival.
Photograph by John Stanmeyer, VII
The latest surge in refugees from the ensuing violence has Turkish government officials and international aid officials
urgently working to prepare for the possibility that Islamic State
advances could create hundreds of thousands of additional refugees.
National Geographic contributing photographer John Stanmeyer,
who has covered conflicts around the world, has been in Turkey for the
last three weeks documenting the plight of refugees there. Upon learning
of this weekend's crisis, he rushed to the border. We spoke with him by
phone early Sunday morning:
What did you find at the border?
It was organized pandemonium. The border is barbed wire,
and concertina, and the Turkish military was there in fairly decent
numbers, maybe 40 along the border on Friday evening, with 4,000
refugees on the other side. They had cut an opening into the fence and
there was a swarm of four to five thousand people coming in.
Twenty to 40 cities fell in the last 24 hours, and ISIS
(The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) is moving in with tanks and
artillery and killing people in its path, so everyone dropped what they
were doing. I was told it was a fairly stable Kurdish area until 24
hours ago. (Related: "Iraqi Christians Weigh Taking Up Arms Against the Islamic State.")
Ahmed, age 5, (right) cries out of fear after crossing into Turkey from Syria with his family Saturday night.
Photograph by John Stanmeyer, VII
The bizarreness of it all is that this was an influx of
many middle class people wandering in wearing slacks and dresses and
jackets, even carrying elegant handbags. It’s clearly a group of people
that have not migrated like this before. They only brought the clothing
on them or a roller, as if they were heading to the airport. Seeing
them, I feel like I’m photographing myself, I’m witnessing the reality
that can befall upon anyone of us.
Had they been chased? Were they suffering?
This was not an exodus like in Rwanda, but a lot of people
coming handicapped, in wheelchairs. A lot of people were being carried
across border. One woman had very specialized leg braces but she
couldn’t walk. Many elderly, infirm, handicapped. I saw three or four
kids with Downs Syndrome. It wasn’t just the poor or rural community.
Many were middle class in this exodus.
Where are they coming in?
There were eight different places along a 40-kilometer
stretch where people were pouring in. It was a constant stream. There
was a perpetual influx of men, women and children from all walks of
life, but definitely not just peasant farmers. I was told by one person
that anybody staying behind is being killed or is going to be.
Turkish military keep watch at the border with Syria in Dikmetas.
Photograph by John Stanmeyer, VII
What stories did you hear from the refugees?
Most of them had walked between 10 and 14 kilometers to
get to the border. They were carrying roller bags, mattresses. One group
of women I talked to were just glad to be there and they hope to get
work in Turkey. It’s cotton season here. They said, "We’re coming here
and will sit here until we get a job."
Others just don’t know what they’re going to do. There was
one group of 40 people who had taken over a gas station, sleeping where
the gas pumps are. There’s a bit of anticipation, of semi-euphoria, in
crossing the border. When they get into Turkey, the deer in the
headlights moment hits. They think, "Oh, what do I do now?" Some have
relatives here, or people they know.
Thousands of Syrians from Kobani pour into Turkey
on Friday evening. Turkish military personnel cut a hole into the barbed
wire fence to allow the thousands of Syrian Kurds to seek safety.
Photograph by John Stanmeyer, VII
What had the refugees seen of the Islamic State militants?
They were getting shelled by tanks and artillery as IS was
10 kilometers away, and then it got more relentless, so at that point
they just left. They knew it was ending. These were full infrastructural
cities, and they just fell. In the distance, about 14 kilometers away
from here is a giant plume of perpetually burning smoke, and it has
burning for the last 24 hours. It’s a village with a mammoth fire
taking place. It’s still burning.
Did the Islamic State have any message for the locals?
The incredible bombardment as they were getting closer was
enough for them to get out. Those who didn’t get out are now being
killed. It’s absolute lunacy.
Gul, 22, rests with her youngest son, Burhan, who
is one, and her other children. They found shelter at an abandoned gas
station in the town of Suriç, Turkey, after walking from Karhko, Syria,
hours earlier, fleeing the Islamic State.
Photograph by John Stanmeyer, VII
How is Turkey dealing with the huge influx of refugees across its borders?
They’re letting them across. They consider them brothers
and sisters, so no passport needed. There are massive camps here that
have been entrenched for one to two years, seven or eight of them, and
each one is holding some 30,000 people. They’re fed three meals a day,
they get money every week for groceries. The Turkish government is
bending over backwards.
How dangerous is it for you?
I’ve been warned to be watchful. Because there’s now so
much military at the border, I’m not concerned in this one spot. But
there are other places I won’t get near at all. You don’t know who
you’re talking to when you get close. You think of worst-case scenarios.
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