HarekAct Reporting

“Free us or be responsible for our deaths”

For 14 days, refugee activist Arash Hampay has refused food. On the Greek island of Lesvos, he sits on the central square of the town Mytilini surrounded by shops, cafés and tourists, presenting a sign stating “Refugees are not Criminals”.

He is exhausted but determined to continue his hunger strike until the end. His open statement leaves no doubt:

“We shall continue our hunger strike until the prisoners in Moria camp are released, regardless of the consequences for us. A life without freedom is worthless and meaningless for us. You must release the refugees or we shall end our lives in front of your eyes and the people’s eyes. We are waiting for you. The people are waiting for you. You must free us or else be responsible for our death. We will keep waiting until the last drop of life falls from our bodies.”

Surrounded by tourists and cafes, Arash Hampay has started a hunger strike on the island of Lesvos. Photo by: Lorraine Leete, Legal Centre Lesbos.

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News Digest

Report on “Syrian Refugee Labor” by Turkish Metalworkers’ Union

Via Hurriyet  DailyNews –  At a time when the number of racist attacks targeting Syrian refugees in Turkey is on the rise, the United Metalworkers’ Union (Birleşik Metal İş Sendikası) issued a report called “Syrian Refugee Labor.” We have thus seen once again how most of the three million Syrian refugees are living under difficult conditions here.

Eight academics from various universities drafted the report. Face to face interviews were conducted with both Turkish and Syrian workers in the textile sector. The result is striking but not unexpected, because we knew that Syrian workers were unregistered and highly underpaid.

The report said 99.6 percent of male Syrian workers and 100 percent of female Syrian workers were unregistered. As an example of the pay gap between Syrian and Turkish workers, the average pay of Syrian women workers corresponds to only half of the average Turkish male worker’s pay.  Continue reading →

 

News Digest

“I came to Greece to escape imprisonment in Iran – but now I realise that Europe is worse”

The Independent spoke to Arash Hampay about his hunger strike in Lesvos:

I am used to having my human rights trampled on. I have been tortured by police in jails from Tehran to Istanbul. But the treatment like we are experiencing here at the hands of the European Union has left me shocked. In fact, as hunger strikers, we could access medical care in Iran that has been denied to us by the Greek authorities. Continue reading “I came to Greece to escape imprisonment in Iran – but now I realise that Europe is worse” →

News Digest

Turks lash out in second summer of hate against Syrian refugees

Turkish military deaths in Syria and images of Syrians returning to their homeland for Eid spark violence and intimidation in Turkey

Via Middle East Eye – A hot summer has brought tempers to boiling point in Turkey, as hatred against its 2.9 million Syrian refugees spikes with Twitter campaigns, violence and even government ministers lashing out at their guests.

Continue reading Turks lash out in second summer of hate against Syrian refugees →

News Digest

Sea-Watch on the hungerstrike in Moria, Lesvos

The German based organization Sea-Watch, who run a civil rescue ship off Libya to rescue migrants from unseaworthy boats, started a observation mission in the Aegean from which they are reporting on the hunger strike in the Moria refugee camp on Lesvos. They interviewed Arash Hampay, the brother of Amir who is detained in Moria awaiting his deportation to Turkey, which they together with three others are protesting against.

https://www.facebook.com/seawatchprojekt/videos/1893140724237333/

 

Continue reading Sea-Watch on the hungerstrike in Moria, Lesvos →

HarekAct Reporting

From Assos to Lesbos: In the Aegean Sea

by Didem Danış, 5.7.2017

I saw lightning in the east
in a wink
then west
I saw the sun dripping
in its blood
and the sea agitated
and the past robbed of its books.

•••

Suffering Syrians, beautiful Syrians, Syrian brothers fleeing death.
You won’t reach the shores on rafts but will be born on beaches with the foam.
Lost gold dust you are, melted gold dust, scattered, dulled.
From abyss to abyss in the hollow of the sea of the Rum, with the star fish and her brother, the roving squid, the waves convey you under the light of Ursa Major, the Daughters of Na’sh.

From ‘Boat to Lesbos’, by Nouri Al-Jarrah

I came across Önder Tokuç, an artist based in Assos, whose “The Aegean Sea” collection has taken me back to the epic poem “Boat to Lesbos” written by Nouri Al-Jarrah. The Syrian poet who lives in exile since 1986 describes the Aegean Sea like a huge bloodstain. This was exactly what pushed Önder Tokuç to produce his powerful art works, consisting of ceramic statues and oil on canvas paintings.

İnsani Yardım – Humanitarian assistance

Continue reading From Assos to Lesbos: In the Aegean Sea →

Reporting on the Turkish-EU Border Regime