At a dusty camp in south-west Turkey, Syrian families have been living in fear since they were displaced after the earthquake that devastated parts of the area in February.
Last week, Turkish police destroyed three tents on the camp’s edge.
“They said they were hindering pedestrians. But no one walks here,” says Sheikh Ahmad Al Ahmad, a preacher who administers the informal camp.
Almost six months after an earthquake that killed 53,227 people, 87 per cent of them in Turkey, the impacts are continuing.
The disaster and its costs have exacerbated xenophobia and hatred against the country's 3.5 million Syrian refugees, further encouraged by a vow by authorities to expel one million to areas under Turkish influence in Syria.
From bricks to canvas
The camp’s 27 families were living in poor residential areas on the edge of the Turkish city of Reyhanli, just a few kilometres from the border with Syria, when the earthquake struck on February 6.
Their buildings were destroyed, became unsound structurally, or their Turkish landlords threw them out.
Now survival is a day-to-day battle.
People at the camp, mostly the women, earn five cents a kilo for the seasonal work sifting through jute mallow, or molokhia in Arabic. The plant is sold as leaves, mainly to other Syrians who fled to Turkey during the crackdown on the 2011 revolt against President Bashar Al Assad's rule, and in the ensuing civil war.
This is due to become their only source of support as a Syrian merchant who was paying for lunch for the camp's residents will stop next week.
"We are running out of donors,” says Sheikh Ahmad.
Sheikh Akhmad said the Reyhanli camp’s residents might have to pick up their meagre belongings and find another spot when the landowner comes to collect the half-year rent next month.
“It will be much more than before,” he says, pointing to Turkey's rampant inflation problem. The 15,000 lira rent for six months, paid in February, was the equivalent of $1,150.
The lira has lost half its value since then to 27 liras to the dollar.
Measures against refugees are being reported across Turkey. Hundreds have been returned to Syria in the past several weeks. In the town of Osmaniye to the north, a makeshift camp for 80 refugees was levelled, Syrian aid workers say. YouTube footage purportedly from the site showed tents flattened on the ground.
A manager at a European aid programme aimed specifically at helping earthquake victims in Turkey says local officials have been refusing the programme's offers for cash and other aid, because 10 per cent of the assistance is earmarked for Syrian refugees.
"They were absolute in their rejection," the official says.
Future prospects dwindle
Before the earthquake, most of the several dozen children at the camp in Reyhanli went to school. None have returned.
Their parents say school has become a non-priority. They worry more about food and expulsion to areas in Syria they still regard as worse than their current situation, even with the Turkish presence in these zones.
One of the children has had an unsuccessful operation to remove fluid from his eyes and can barely see.
“I try to keep him away from the sun,” says his mother, Khalidiya.
She belongs to the Baqara, a tribe in northern Aleppo that partly turned against the regime and joined the 2011 revolt.
“We cannot go back to the regime,” she says.
Reyhanli, like other areas in the southwest, had historically formed the hinterland of the great city of Aleppo, a centre of culture and trade for centuries.
The area produced intricate rugs that were prized by the merchant families in the city. With the end of the Ottoman Empire and the spread of borders that hindered trade, rug-making in Reyhanli became extinct.
But its closeness to Syria made it an obvious choice for hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing the Assad regime.
Khaldiyeh Al Saleh, a woman in her sixties, fled from the town of Habeet in Idlib governorate, the target of Russian and Syrian air force bombing, before the regime captured it in 2019.
Her daughter was killed in the earthquake and she is taking care of her surviving six-year granddaughter.
“I feel myself withering,” she says.
A family in the next tent, who are from Hama, try to help her by looking after the child. They have three children of their own, and the father, Ibrahim, who was a carpenter, is disabled.
He has a hole in his cheek from shrapnel. He was also hit in his stomach, hands and legs, and can barely walk.
Ibrahim says he sustained his injuries after fleeing Hama to opposition areas in the governorate of Idlib and coming under air bombing there.
“The only thing I can do is to clean molokhia,” he says.
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THE DETAILS
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Director: Ron Howard
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
'Tell the Machine Goodnight' by Katie Williams
Penguin Randomhouse
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
Company%20profile
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Seemar’s top six for the Dubai World Cup Carnival:
1. Reynaldothewizard
2. North America
3. Raven’s Corner
4. Hawkesbury
5. New Maharajah
6. Secret Ambition
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
FFP EXPLAINED
What is Financial Fair Play?
Introduced in 2011 by Uefa, European football’s governing body, it demands that clubs live within their means. Chiefly, spend within their income and not make substantial losses.
What the rules dictate?
The second phase of its implementation limits losses to €30 million (Dh136m) over three seasons. Extra expenditure is permitted for investment in sustainable areas (youth academies, stadium development, etc). Money provided by owners is not viewed as income. Revenue from “related parties” to those owners is assessed by Uefa's “financial control body” to be sure it is a fair value, or in line with market prices.
What are the penalties?
There are a number of punishments, including fines, a loss of prize money or having to reduce squad size for European competition – as happened to PSG in 2014. There is even the threat of a competition ban, which could in theory lead to PSG’s suspension from the Uefa Champions League.
The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
Mina Cup winners
Under 12 – Minerva Academy
Under 14 – Unam Pumas
Under 16 – Fursan Hispania
Under 18 – Madenat