Amal Sheikhou, Coordinator of the Syrian Opposition Coalition’s (SOC) Office of the Refugee Affairs toured the Turkish-Greek border where she met with Syrian refugees stranded on the border. She strongly condemned the Greek authorities’ violence against refugees.
Sheikhou on Wednesday pointed out that the violence being committed by the Greek army against the refugees amount to crimes that must be investigated. She said that the physical abuse leading to death constituted a murder and a blatant violation of international law, stressing that those responsible must be held accountable.
She pointed out that the SOC will take legal action against the killing of the Syrian asylum seeker Ahmed Abu Imad who was shot dead two days ago. She said: “We cannot tolerate or accept the use of violence and violation of the law.”
Sheikhou called on the UNHCR Office to assume its responsibilities with regards to the Syrian refugees stranded on the Greek border. She called on it to urgently intervene to address the humanitarian tragedy affecting tens of thousands of asylum seekers “who are stranded out in the open at the mercy of harsh weather conditions and without shelter or food.”
She urged the international humanitarian organizations to assume their duties for which they were found and to urgently intervene to save civilians fleeing one of the worst tragedies in recent times.
Syrians are risking their lives and the lives of their children due to the world’s failure to protect them at home over the past nine years, Sheikho said, adding that Syrians were left an easy prey to the Russian occupation’s Air Force and the brutality of the Assad regime and Iranian militias.
“It is time for the international community, particularly the European Union, to share Turkey the issue of refugees it is hosting,” Sheikhou said. (Source: SOC’s Media Department)
