Story

Syrian Refugees Transit through Troubled Greece

March 04, 2015 | Pulitzer Center
By
Holly Pickett

Police holding camp for undocumented migrants on Chios Island, Greece. After the Coast Guard processes new arrivals, Syrian refugees usually spend at least a few days, sometimes longer, in this locked detention camp while the police complete documents allowing them to stay in Greece temporarily. Image by Holly Pickett. Greece, 2014.

Many migrant boats set out from Turkey in the middle of the night, and often, upon seeing the Greek Coast Guard, the migrants destroy their inflatable boats or jump in the water to compel the Coast Guard to rescue them. Image by Holly Pickett. Greece, 2014.

Coast Guard search-and-rescue crew members tested searchlights while scanning Greek waters for migrant boats near Chios Island, Greece. Image by Holly Pickett. Greece, 2014.

Recently-arrived Syrian refugees sleep outside next to the sea, because there are not enough shelters for the number of migrants at the Greek Coast Guard detention camp on Chios Island, Greece. New migrants undergo identification and processing by the Coast Guard before being handed over to the border police, but the volume of arrivals overwhelmed the resources of the Coast Guard. Image by Holly Pickett. Greece, 2014.

Amr Al-Bakri, left, a refugee from Aleppo, Syria, receives a portion of pasta and a hard-boiled egg for dinner at the Greek Coast Guard detention camp on Chios Island, Greece. Al-Bakri, a civil engineer and poet, left Syria with his wife and daughter, hoping to emigrate to Sweden or the Netherlands. Image by Holly Pickett. Greece, 2014.

Left to right, Muhannad, Ali, and Ali's daughter Salam, all from Yarmouk Palestinian camp near Damascus, idly pass the time at the Coast Guard detention camp on Chios Island, Greece. Migrants who are found or rescued nearby spend at least a couple of days here before going to the police detention camp. Image by Holly Pickett. Greece, 2014.

Luay, 35, uses a dry razor and light from the open balcony to shave in an apartment he shares with 10 other Syrian refugees in Athens, Greece. Most Syrians come to Greece hoping to travel illegally to another European country such as Germany or Sweden, where they can request asylum and receive state support as refugees. Some end up getting stuck in Greece, which has tightened its borders but does not have the resources to support the number of refugees arriving each day. Image by Holly Pickett. Greece, 2014.

A group of Syrian refugees share fruit after a meal in the apartment they are sharing in Athens, Greece. Some of them knew each other from before, in Syria; some just met on the journey to Europe. Now they share the cooking, shopping, and cleaning, all while planning their exit strategies. Image by Holly Pickett. Greece, 2014.

Muhammad, left, a factory manager from Aleppo, speaks with his wife. Abdul Salam, right, an architect also from Aleppo, chats with his fiancee, while sitting in a 2-bedroom apartment housing sometimes as many as 35 Syrian refugees in Athens, Greece. "I am talking to my wife every half hour," Muhammad, who also has four children, said. "She says there are bombs." He spent seven months in Greece and tried to get out more than 10 times before finally succeeding on reaching Sweden in November. Abdul Salam is also in Sweden now. Image by Holly Pickett. Greece, 2014.

Syrian men sleep in the living room of a 2-bedroom apartment housing sometimes as many as 35 Syrian refugees in Athens, Greece. Image by Holly Pickett. Greece, 2014.

Khaled, left, and Mostafa, both from Yarmouk near Damascus, smoke a water pipe while waiting in a café to speak with a smuggler in Athens, Greece. Because of European Union laws, refugees are supposed to apply for asylum in the first EU country in which they arrive, but Greece's economic situation makes it almost impossible. Image by Holly Pickett. Greece, 2014.

Mohamed Gharib, a 25-year-old economics student, prays before attempting to leave Greece, in a 2-bedroom apartment housing sometimes as many as 35 Syrian refugees in Athens, Greece. Like an increasing number of Syrians, Mohamed chose to travel over land, by foot and car, via Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, and Austria, all the way to Germany. Image by Holly Pickett. Greece, 2014.

After chatting for hours with his wife who is still in Syria, Abu Mustafa, an orthopedic doctor from Damascus, repacks his suitcase at 3 a.m. to be ready for departure at a moment's notice, in an apartment housing up to 35 Syrian refugees in Athens, Greece. His 2-year-old daughter was killed by shelling one month ago. "I went crazy," he said. He left Syria five days later, trying to find a way out for his wife and surviving child. Months later, he still hadn't found a way out of Greece and was considering returning to Syria. Image by Holly Pickett. Greece, 2014.

In 2014, thousands of Syrian refugees made their way to Europe via boats smuggled from Turkey to Greece. Sometimes the boats make landfall on an island, but more often, they are intercepted by the Greek Coast Guard in the water. The boats appear almost everyday, and financially-strapped Greece is struggling to cope with the increasing numbers of new arrivals.

In most cases, Syrians are given documentation allowing them to stay in Greece for six months, but asylum is essentially impossible, and there are few official resources to help them. For these reasons, most Syrians come to Greece hoping to travel illegally to another European country such as Germany, Holland, or Sweden, where they can request asylum and receive state support as refugees. To do this, they often must pay a human smuggler to procure fake documents and facilitate their travel. It is a difficult, sometimes dangerous, and often very expensive journey to reach safety.