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In Pictures: Kurdish refugees flood Turkey

Thousands of Syrian Kurdish refugees have poured into the country amid an ISIL offensive in Kobani.

The developments on the border come after at least 105 villages around Kobani were captured by ISIL fighters.
By Ahmed Deeb
Published On 29 Sep 2014

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At least 138,000 Syrian Kurdish refugees have poured into Turkey over the past few days, escaping an offensive by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Kobane, one of Syria’s major Kurdish cities. They continued to cross into Turkey which opened its border to allow refugees to enter Suruc, in the southeastern province of Sanliurfa.

Kobane, the third largest Kurdish city in Syria on the border with Turkey, is besieged by ISIL fighters using heavy artillery.

“Daesh [ISIL] attacked our village in Kobani with heavy weapons, and people had to flee out of fear,” said 46-year-old Osman, a Syrian Kurd. “Kurdish fighters stayed behind armed only with light weapons.” 

Ahmed Ammar, a Syrian from Aleppo, lost both his wife and son during ISIL’s attack on Kobane. He moved to the village two years ago due to the heavy fighting in Aleppo. “Kobani was a safe area. This is why we moved there, but after it became besieged by Daesh we had to flee.”

He added: “We escape from death only to find death, there is no place to escape forever.”

Hundreds of Kurdish men, who crossed the border with their families, wanted to return to Syria.
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(***)They [ISIL] have taken my house and forced everyone to leave the village so we came to Turkey to save the children and women,(***) one Kurdish woman said.
(***)We assist the Syrians to enter Turkey and give them help as much as we can,(***) a Turkish policeman said.
(***)Everyone in my family lives in a different place, but my mother stayed behind in Kobani because she is old and can not walk,(***) one refugee said.
(***)We are fighting ISIL but we have no support, so we expect that Kobani will fall if no one stands by us,(***) a Syrian Kurdish fighter said.
The Turkish government is working on providing places for the refugees in Suruc, where two refugee camps were set up.
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The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said it was making contingency plans for all 400,000 inhabitants of Kobani.
(***)The Turks set up two refugee camps with some tents but the number of displaced people is bigger than the tents they provided,(***) a Syrian Kurdish woman said.
(***)My children and I have slept in a park in Suruc, because we do not have a house here, until the Turkish government set up a refugee camp. But no one cares about us. They only give us some water, biscuits, and soup,(***) said one refugee.
Scores of Syrian Kurds who fled to Turkey to escape ISIL fighters are trying to return home because they do not have a place to live in and do not have money. They live in parks, sports facilities, schools, and mosques.
(***)We prefer to stay in our town and fight Daesh better than to sleep in Turkey(***)s streets,(***) a young Kurdish man said.