Refugees in Izmir take shelter in temporary camp area

In Torbalı district of Izmir, residents of Pamukyazı neighborhood attacked the camp area of Syrian refugees with sticks and burned 40 tents. Syrian families had to leave the neighborhood and built a temporary camp area. 

According to bianet, İmece Initiative Association that has been meeting the basic needs of refugees in Izmir and Manisa for 2 years reached to the refugees who had to left Torbalı. Basic daily needs were sent to 17 families in order to provide the minimum living conditions.

The Association hasn't revealed the location of the new settlement because of safety concerns, stating that they will continue to help them, since they live in bleak conditions.

“We couldn't have taken our belongings”

Speaking to Al Jazeera Turkish, casual laborer İbrahim Siloçavuş (66) said that they had to leave the neighborhood without even taking their belongings. Stating that they had been living in Pamukyazı for 2 years, Siloçavuş said: “We went to our relatives. We have no food. We couldn't have taken our belongings.” Samet Seydo (21) said that they left Pamukyazı because of the incident and added that there is no Syrian left in Pamukyazı now.

What happened?

The fight was caused by an argument between two groups of children fighting over a bike. It is claimed that a group of Syrian refugees had beaten the kid and the argument between the parents of the kid and Syrians turned into a fight. 30 people were wounded, one of them being in critical condition. Afterwards, a group of residents came to the camp area with sticks. Refugees left the area and the attackers burned the tents.