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"Even our cemeteries are crammed with Syrians", residents of the town of Kilis spoke their minds.
This has been the situation in the Turkish city "Kilis" since issuing a resolution concerning the Syrian refugees which was not welcomed by politicians, especially the Europeans who depend on Turkey to stop the influx of refugees to the coasts of the Mediterranean, as the city's authorities announced that it is full.
The quite city of Kilis which is located on the Syrian-Turkish borders north of Aleppo, is considered the connecting point for hundreds of thousands of refugees who have been fleeing the raging war in Syria for four years, according to a report published by the British Newspaper " Telegraph", on Tuesday, April 19/ 2016.
The city has been receiving refugees for a long time, and other Turkish cities have shown deep appreciation for " Kilis" for shouldering the burden of hosting thousands who fled the conflict, and the city even been nominated for Noble Peace Prize.
However, Kilis is witnessing for the first time demonstrations against the huge numbers of refugees heading to it, approximately 130 thousand, exceeding the city's population which is 90 thousand people.
The Citizens have started to feel angry as war clouds are gathering by the day over Turkey, especially when four missiles hit the borders of the city a few days ago resulting in the death of one man.
"I have no problem with the Syrians"
Aref Bosnak oglu, a shop owner, said: "I have no problems with Syrians and I don't bear any grudge against anyone; they are poor refugees and they are not the source of the problem. If you allow them to enter your country, then you have to respect them", " but enough is enough. we don't have the capacity for more refugees", he added.
The warnings were officially declared by the city's governor Suliman Tabsez during an interview with "Telegraph" newspaper.
Will Syrian Refugees be banned from entry?!
The governor said that he refused to accept more Syrians into the city because the extension of the main "Onkupinar" refugee camp, which is located on the borders, has become full.
A new group of double-decker caravans in the camp will shelter 10 thousand refugees. There are 10 thousand vacancies in the temporary camp inside the border area and 5000 more in a camp located on the borders between Kilis province and the city of Gaziantep in the north.
"After these vacancies which reached 25 thousand according to the plans, we will send any other refugees to other camps in different cities", the governor added.
It seems that 25 thousand is a big number, however, there are already 130 thousand Syrians in the city, most of them live in camps or private houses, exceeding the population of the city.
In one day, 20 to 30 thousand refugees have fled towards the borders after ISIL launched a counter-attack to deter the advancement of the Free Syrian Army fighters and destroyed at least one camp for refugees.
There are already 100 thousand refugees near the city of Azaz on the Syrian border.
Nobody wants to go to Europe
Most of the people who settled in the city of Kilis have no intention to leave it because it's close to the Syrian borders which means their ability to stay inside their societies, where they work and establish their own business, not to forget the schools, medical centers and other facilities provided by the Turkish government and humanitarian committees.
An informal survey made by a Syrian-German body for female refugees found that nobody wants to go to Europe. A 45-year old refugee, Amanur Abdullah, said: "I don't want to live far away from Syria, not even in Istanbul".
It's ironic that the richest Turkish cities located on the European side of the country do not welcome refugees and they ban them from staying in cities on the Mediterranean coast under the pretext of protecting tourism. It should be noted that these cities are the gateways for refugees to Europe.
Before the outbreak of the refugees' crisis, garbage collectors used to gather 30 tons of garbage every day, while today the number increased to 160 tons, water consumption doubled three times, and the per capita share of green areas shrank from 5 meters to less than one meter. Furthermore, the mortality rate of natural reasons away from war-caused deaths was doubled, where the number of funerals increased from (700-800) to (1500-1600) a year. "The pressures on the city have intensified to the extent that our cemeteries are overcrowded", according to Hasan Kara, Mayor of the city.
Hostilities
The situation changed last year, as the shelling had intensified on the borders in retaliation for the advancement of FSA supported by Turkey, who wants the opposition alliance to seize control of the borders instead of ISIS, regime forces, or Kurdish militia.
The demonstrations against Syrians were insignificant, but the refugees are increasingly facing hostile actions. A 25-year old woman, Maha Haji Muhammed, said: "Situations have recently become more difficult due to the shelling, as one on the shells fell next to my door."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President of the European Council Donald Tusk are due to pay a visit to Turkey at the end of this week and possibly attend the opening of the extension of the camp located in Kilis, along with a hospital and a clinic for children with special needs. The costs are supposed to be funded by the European Union as a part of the agreement with Turkey concerning restoring the Refugees. The goal of the agreement, according to the European Union, is to reduce the number of people arriving daily from Turkey to less than 100 people compared to 50 thousand refugees arrived to Europe in February 2016.
Representatives of the regime is currently meeting the opposition groups excepting ISIS and Al-Nusra Front in Geneva, however, the opposition groups are about to withdraw due to the continued acts of aggressions by the regime and the failure to deliver aid to the besieged areas.
With no clouds looming on the horizon that the war is going to an end, Muhammed Dahi, head of the project Amanur Abudllah and others are participating in, said: "Syrian refugees prefer to stay where they are now in case they get the necessary support. "If you get the basics of living here, then there is no need to go to Europe," he added.