Siraj Eddin Allon, a 24-year-old from Idleb, has been forced to remain inside Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport for the past four months as he awaits deportation to the country he had come from.
Allon, one of eight Syrian refugees who face a similar fate, explained his marathon trip travelling between Turkey and Mauritania 13 times because of a forged passport. According to Allon, many of the detainees with him had contacted the opposition’s National Coalition, but their attempts went in vain.
Unable to find a job after escaping to Turkey, Allon considered traveling to a country that accepts Syrians without a visa, choosing to travel to Mauritania from Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport. Allon remained in Mauritania for a while, but circumstances forced him to return to Turkey.
After arriving in Ataturk airport, Allon was denied access to the country when authorities insisted his passport was fake, despite leaving to Mauritania from the same airport.
Allon was forced to return to Mauritania with his personal file explaining he travelled on a forged passport. After staying there for two days, Allon returned to Turkey, where he was caught again and returned to Mauritania. This continued 11 more times.
The defected Syrian police officer mentioned he contacted leading figures in the National Coalition, but was refused help. After contacting a human rights organization, Allon was sent a lawyer to help.
“The lawyer had twice applied to release me but the two applications were rejected, and my file was transferred to the Constitutional Court and they are still there”. Allon has hopes that his application will be successful.
Siraj Eddin confirmed the video published by Zaman al-Wasl concerning the life of detainees at Ataturk Airport had helped his case and is now expecting to be deported back to Syria, via the Free Syrian Army-controlled Bab al-Hawa crossing in Turkey’s south.
“I have been detained in the airport for months away from my wife and daughter, it is better for me to live under the threat of explosive barrels than the situation I am in now”, Allon added.
