Syrian refugees pour into Turkey fearing bloody clash with government forces
GRAEME SMITH
YAYLADAGI, TURKEY— From Friday's Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Jun. 09, 2011 9:51PM EDT
Last updated Thursday, Jun. 09, 2011 10:13PM EDT
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With northern Syria bracing for a crackdown by elite government troops, and thousands of people fleeing across the Turkish border, a man with a wounded arm took shelter in the attic of a modest shop and explained how the latest violence began.
Mohammed Nadir Zagter, 40, massaged his swollen fingers just below the bullet hole in his forearm, and said that recent mayhem in his hometown was ignited by a fearsome unit deployed to quell unrest on June 3.
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Syrians flee as troops surround town
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Map of Syria
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Troops move to quell Syrian rebellion
Killings started within hours after the arrival of the bearded gunmen wearing black clothes, black flak vests, and black combat boots, he said. Nobody knows who sent them, he added, but locals suspected the well-equipped unit was controlled by Lieutenant-Colonel Maher al-Assad, brother of the Syrian President.
The survivor’s story, and other news carried by the human wave now hitting the rocky hills along the Turkish-Syrian border, offers a wholly different narrative of recent events than the version from Damascus.
State television claims that an unidentified terrorist group killed 120 security officers during an ambush in the city of Jisr ash-Shughur on June 4. Spokespeople for the regime continue to say that they’re facing “armed gangs,” and that those groups intimidated people into evacuating the city. Columns of tanks and armoured carriers have recently arrived to restore order.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister says 2,400 people crossed the border so far. Most of them are confined to camps, forbidden from speaking with the media, but the few who have given interviews so far speak about evading security forces shooting from rooftops and helicopters. All of the refugees who spoke say they’re fleeing in advance of an expected sweep by security forces in the coming days.
In an ominous sign that the uprising has regional implications, two Turkish locals with family ties across the border said that the protesters had captured a group of security agents acting on behalf of the Syrian regime who turned out to be native Farsi speakers, a language most widely spoken in Iran. That has given rise to a widespread rumour of armed Iranians operating inside Syria.
Earlier this week, British Foreign Secretary William Hague accused Iran of supporting the Islamist groups Hamas and Hezbollah, saying those groups have assisted the Syrian government with its suppression of dissent. Iran formally summoned Britain’s top diplomat in Tehran on Thursday to complain about the accusation.
If militant groups are helping to fight protests in Syria, it could explain why residents noticed long beards on some of the black-clad men who showed up in Jisr ash-Shughur last week; Syrian police and military officers are typically clean-shaven, they said.
The men in black appeared on the streets hours after protesters in a city suburb – shouting “Democracy!” and “No more bribery!” – grabbed a group of 20 police and briefly detained them, Mr. Zagter said. All of the officers were released unharmed, he added, but that evening a black-clad officer shot a young man named Basil el Masri, perhaps 25 years old, who came from a well-known family.
“That killing was a big mistake,” he said. “The next day, 10,000 people attended the funeral.”
Snipers opened fire on the huge crowd, Mr. Zagter said, but the men on the rooftops soon found themselves under attack from local police; he said that nine security officials were killed in the skirmish. He noted that the slain snipers carried cards identifying them as Syrian intelligence agents.
Another 15 protesters were killed on Sunday, he said; the same day, residents heard rumours that a police general had executed 10 of his subordinates for refusing to follow orders. Those executions prompted a split within the police, he said, as some police joined the rebellion, resulting in another 53 deaths from fighting within the ranks.
A helicopter arrived later on Sunday and tried to scatter rioters with gunfire, Mr. Zagter said, proudly displaying his bandaged arm where a bullet struck him. Like dozens of others injured in the fighting, he received treatment in the Turkish province of Hatay, which has a large Arabic-speaking community.
One man born in Syria, who has lived in Turkey for three decades, said he has helped several people escape by smuggling them across the border. His contacts in Syria have told him to expect more demonstrations – and more violence – after the weekly Friday prayers.
“Friday will be a big mess,” he said. “Everybody is afraid.”
Syrian refugees flashed victory signs and waved from behind the rusted steel gates of an old industrial facility where Turkish authorities are holding crowds of people fleeing the worsening conflict.
Turkey has given food and shelter to asylum seekers who escaped Syria, more than 1,000 of whom reportedly crossed in the last 24 hours, but has generally prevented them from speaking with journalists. The bedraggled families arriving at the border get loaded into police buses and whisked into makeshift facilities operated by the Turkish Red Crescent.
While trying to ease the humanitarian crisis, Turkey hopes to avoid giving the refugees a platform for criticizing a regime in Damascus that was recently considered a close ally in Ankara. Turkish officials speaking on condition of anonymity have suggested that the escapees' tales of horror cannot be trusted.
Public statements from Ankara appeal for calm, apparently fearing the growing unrest along its 850-kilometre border, in a region where Turkey faces its own problems with separatists.
This stretch of border cuts through rugged hills and small farms, where the winding roads and steep footpaths make the frontier notoriously porous. Smugglers ply a regular trade between the two countries, and many families have relatives on both sides.
Several people came looking for their relatives at the Yayladag camp. A man who identified himself only as Mehmet held a small child in his arms and spoke through the metal bars with a Turkish police officer, only to turn away frustrated.
He claimed to have 10 relatives inside, but wasn't allowed to visit them because he could not confirm his relationship with them. Police accepted only visitors who made contact with the refugees' cellphones, claiming they were protecting them from possible attacks by Syrian agents.
“Many people are evacuating Syria now because they are so afraid,” Mehmet said. “Whole villages are empty.”
(source:.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/syrian-refugees-pour-into-turkey-fearing-bloody-clash-with-government-forces/article2054866/page2/)
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