From Iran into Europe
By Mohajir Times
By Leo Shahovsky and Translated by Mohajir Times
If I ignore the previous events related to travel and problems related to passport cancellation, etc., for reasons that do not need to be repeated here, this time, I had to go to Europe via the Turkish sea route.
About three months ago (early fall of 2023), I left the soil of Iran and went to Turkey. I stayed two months in Istanbul and twenty days in Izmir. In my encounter with Turkish people, I found them to be “Angry and Nervous” people, and I can't even guess why, even though there are remnants of Islam in this country and the call to prayer is sounded five times, it has almost no reflection in their human morals. The only thing that caught my attention in Turkey was the lovely street cats that were easy to hug, and hanging out with dogs and cats was more enjoyable for me than hanging out with the people of Turkey.
Then I went to Marmaris, Türkiye. Marmaris was a coastal city with green spaces and symbolic, colorful icons. It met some of my expectations for the first time I wrote in the fictional city of Wester Lock. After seven days, we left Marmaris at night and went to the cold forest inside the vans, and stopped for three hours, and for the second time, we went to the last point, inside the boat.
I saw a boat about 12 meters long, and over 65 people boarded it! The space was very cramped and dark, and when sleeping, some people slept sitting and some standing up, and there were many fights over this situation. Its toilet had no outlet path, and vomit and urine were on the floor. Its atmosphere was a mixture of bad smells such as the smell of shoes, vomit, babies' clothes or layette, urine, etc. For five nights, I only ate an apple and a few knuckles of nuts because you can rarely eat anything at sea, and everyone's condition becomes unfavorable.
There was no safety inside the inflatable boat, a vest, or internet in the open water. If the boat is punctured or capsized or the engine fails in the open waters of the protected areas of Turkey, Greece, and Italy, people must expect death. Even though the sea waves were small, they sometimes rose up to half a meter and almost overturned and crushed the boat.
When we reached Italian waters, we called them, and they rushed to help us, and we entered Italian territory. We stayed in the camp for a day and a half, and they gave us the exit slip. I went by train to Milan and from there to Switzerland, then to Paris and Dunkirk. I came to all these routes by high-speed train. In Dunkirk, the forest was freezing. I contacted their humanitarian organizations, primarily women, and they sent us, along with some other people, to one of the hotels in Douai.
In Europe, people's behavior towards refugees and migrants was good. These institutions kindly helped the people with water, food, and clothes. Even the police and their military personnel treated people with respect. But the only thing that was very disturbing on the way to Italy was the very cold weather in Dunkirk, which reached about -6 degrees. Transportation was very expensive because of the New Year.
This was the whole road, and without a doubt, this road is hazardous like other roads in Russia, Belarus, and Bulgaria, and I do not recommend such cruel roads to anyone. These ways are not suitable even for animals, let alone for humans. I request people never to decide to migrate or travel in such ways. These days, you can apply for tourist, study, work, etc. visas and fly into Europe within a few months. If someone has to leave Iran and does not have a passport, they can enter Turkey with a fake passport from Iraq.
A crucial sociological point that I came to was that the acceptance of lies and unfounded rumors is very intense and reaches its peak in periods of crisis. Inside the boat, people were under pressure, and every lie that was handed out was readily accepted by the public, and they hoped that these soothing lies were true. If I give a name to this situation, I will call it “Crisis Pressure.”
In the end, I repeat that crossing these roads is not even worthy of animals, and I hope that one day, these oppressive conditions that governments have provided for poor people will end. A Human being does not deserve to have their dignity reduced and to be treated like wild slaves or wild animals. If someone has experience in these ways, they can define it for others to use, and I will not hesitate to help if I can.
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