It was still dark when the smuggler steered the wooden boat away from the Turkish shore towards Greece. On board, Cevheri and Tugba Guven held their children tight as they shivered with cold and fear.
It is a journey that has been made many times by people fleeing persecution, but the Guvens were not Syrians escaping war. They were Turkish journalists.
As President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tightens his grip on the country, with last weekend’s referendum enhancing his powers, a growing number of Turkish dissidents are fleeing to safety in Europe.
Those wanted by the police crowd into dinghies and lorries to leave the country illegally — knowing they would otherwise be detained at the border.
“I never thought this would happen to us,” said