{"id":386758,"date":"2025-08-31T07:35:24","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T07:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/386758\/"},"modified":"2025-08-31T07:35:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T07:35:24","slug":"i-was-never-worried-10-years-on-since-syrian-siblings-2700-mile-escape-to-germany-refugees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/386758\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I was never worried\u2019: 10 years on since Syrian siblings\u2019 2,700-mile escape to Germany | Refugees"},"content":{"rendered":"

The trip would be tough, Somar Kreker knew, but he was not overly fearful. It was the summer of 2015, and in a small flat in Amman, Jordan, this young Syrian\u2019s only thought was how to turn a long and arduous journey into something more bearable. The engineering student had fled Syria<\/a> three and a half years earlier after refusing to enlist in the brutal regime\u2019s army. He was now ready to begin a new chapter of his life, starting with a new task: to reunite with his younger sisters, still trapped in Damascus, and lead them to Germany, where their brother was living.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was never worried or stressed about the trip,\u201d says Somar, just 27 years old at the time. \u201cI never had any thought about danger or failure. My only thoughts were how I could make the trip a happy adventure for me and my sisters.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor some reason,\u201d he adds, \u201cI was sure that I would arrive safely in Germany.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Somar attends lessons in speaking everyday German, frequented mainly by Syrian and Iraqi refugees, in 2016.Somar and Lubna at a bus station in Catania, Sicily, where Somar and his sister were invited to speak at a festival about their journey.<\/p>\n

In 2015, nearly 1 million asylum seekers attempted to reach Europe<\/a> \u2013 it was a year officials and aid workers would later describe as the peak of the migration crisis, that would put to the test the core values of the EU \u2013 itself born from the ashes of a war that displaced millions. At a press conference at refugee camp in Dresden on 31 August, the then German chancellor Angela Merkel said \u201cWir schaffen das\u201d (\u201cWe can do this\u201d) as the country opened its borders to those in need.<\/p>\n

Today, Somar and his sisters\u2019 journey would be immeasurably more difficult. Ten years have passed since then. A decade in which migration has reshaped political landscapes across the continent and paved the way for the rise of far-right parties.<\/p>\n

Map showing Somar Kreker\u2019s route through Europe<\/a><\/p>\n

The year before, in 2014, Somar\u2019s brother, Mousab, had managed to get from Libya to Sicily with his pregnant wife by boat. But for him, repeating that journey with his sisters was not an option: it was too dangerous. A few months earlier, on 18 April 2015, a fishing boat designed to carry no more than 30 passengers, crammed with more than 1,000 asylum seekers, collided with a Portuguese freighter that had approached to offer help. The vessel sank in the dark waters off the Sicilian coast. Most of the bodies would remain trapped inside the hull, wedged about 400 metres deep on the seabed. More than 800 people would lose their lives in what became the deadliest shipwreck in the history of the European migration crisis.<\/p>\n

There was only one alternative. Perhaps less deadly, but longer and more exhausting: the Balkan route, which, after travelling from Turkey to Greece in a rubber dinghy, cuts across at least four countries, through mountains and \u2013 in the colder months \u2013 snow-covered forests.<\/p>\n

Lubna and Salsabil took a train from North Macedonia to the Serbian border in October 2015.Lubna, left, waits for a train to Stuttgart en route to Schw\u00e4bisch Gm\u00fcnd, where her brother had been living for a year.Lubna, Somar\u2019s youngest sister, in Mosbach, Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg, Germany.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plan was to meet my sisters, Salsabil, 21, and Lubna, 14, in Istanbul. They were arriving on a flight from Damascus. I reached Turkey on a flight from Amman,\u201d says Somar.<\/p>\n

After a cross-country bus ride, they reached Ka\u015f, a coastal town on Turkey\u2019s Mediterranean shore, where smugglers would ferry them across to the Greek island of Kastellorizo \u2013 for about \u20ac1,000 each.<\/p>\n

Somar, centre, in Ka\u015f, southern Turkey, looking out to the Greek island of Kastellorizo, just under 4 miles away, in September 2015.Somar and friends swim two days after reaching Greece.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe established my sisters would leave before me,\u201d says Somar. \u201cThat was the most dramatic moment of my journey. Thinking that they had to cross alone \u2013 from Turkey to Greece \u2013 on a dinghy, drove me crazy with anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few days before, on 13 September, at least 34 people, including 15 babies and children, drowned when their overcrowded boat capsized in high winds off the Aegean island of Farmakonisi. According to data from the UNHCR, the UN\u2019s refugee agency, and International Organization for Migration<\/a> (IOM), approximately 731 people died in the Aegean Sea attempting to reach Greece in rubber dinghies in 2015.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the sea was calm that day and his sisters arrived safely in Kastellorizo \u2013 followed a few days later by Somar. Kastellorizo had experienced a influx of migrants, who now significantly outnumbered the residents.<\/p>\n

\"FootageFootage captured by Alessio Mamo shows journey along Balkan route \u2013 video<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a wonderful island, with crystal\u2011clear water,\u201d says Alessio Mamo, a Guardian photographer who had met Somar in Turkey and decided to document his journey. \u201cThe contrast between the stream of tourists and the thousands of migrants was stark. To shake off the fear after the dinghy crossing, we played football. Syria versus the rest of the world. Instead of shirts, the opposing team wore lifejackets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group set off again taking the ferry to Athens. From there, after a couple of days, Somar, his sisters and Alessio joined thousands of other migrants and made their way to the North Macedonian border, arriving at an open\u2011air camp run by the UNHCR.<\/p>\n

A group of refugees on the ferry from Kastellorizo to Athens.Somar and the rest of the group in Athens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe borders were open in that period, unlike today. It was not hard to reach the Balkans,\u201d says Somar.<\/p>\n

On 15 October, they took a train to Serbia \u2013 a country where the mood was growing increasingly tense. In the weeks leading up to their arrival, more than 13,000 migrants had crossed from Serbia into Croatia in just a few days, raising alarm among European governments. In Zagreb, officials feared they were facing the last line of defence against a purported \u201cinvasion\u201d of asylum seekers \u2013 a narrative rapidly seized upon by far\u2011right parties across Europe.<\/p>\n

Somar and his companions on a train headed to the Serbian border.Somar\u2019s sisters, Salsabil and Lubna, waited to take a bus from Athens to the border with North Macedonia.The UN ran an open\u2011air camp for refugees at the Greek border with North Macedonia.Refugees waiting to enter the UNHCR camp in North Macedonia.<\/p>\n

Alessio was stopped by Serbian police. His passport showed no record of entry into the country. He was separated from the group and taken to a police station where he was questioned. He was then allowed to resume his journey and reached Croatia by bus.<\/p>\n

On their way to Europe, migrants lived in makeshift camps, out in the open or in cardboard shelters. Those who could not afford bus or train fares walked on foot, trekking through dense forests and mountains along barely passable trails. They slept whenever and wherever they could.<\/p>\n

Somar helps a Syrian family move a person in a wheelchair out of a patch of mud after crossing into Serbia from North Macedonia.<\/p>\n

On 17 September, Croatia closed seven of its eight border crossings with Serbia in an effort to limit the influx of refugees. A month later, Slovenia followed suit \u2013 a clear sign that Europe, struggling to manage unprecedented migration flows, was closing its doors.<\/p>\n

A month later, Somar, his sisters and Alessio arrived in Salzburg, Austria. A couple of days later \u2013 after 44 days and more than 2,755 miles (4,434km) \u2013 they reached Germany, their journey culminating in a long, emotional embrace with Mousab.<\/p>\n

The emotional arrival at Mousab\u2019s place in Schw\u00e4bisch Gm\u00fcnd. Mousab arrived in Germany a year earlier with his pregnant wife, Ghalia. They had landed in Sicily, travelling via Libya.<\/p>\n

The family fleeing the Syrian regime was finally reunited, far from war and fear.<\/p>\n

Somar now lives in Bochum where he got married last year and he works as a project manager for a firm in the food industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found help and support in Germany,\u201d says Somar, \u201cand I have never felt discriminated against.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salsabil, Lubna, Somar, Mousab (at the back) and their mother, Butheyna, at dinner the day before Somar\u2019s wedding.Salsabil and Lubna dancing at Somar\u2019s wedding in Solingen.Somar with Aya, just married.Somar raises a cheer at his wedding.<\/p>\n

That year, Merkel was harshly criticised by many other EU leaders for her response the crisis, which she called a \u201chistoric test\u201d that could not be solved by shutting out refugees. Her open-door policy welcomed hundreds of thousands of refugees<\/a> into Germany.<\/p>\n

Judith Sunderland, associate director for Human Rights Watch\u2019s Europe and Central Asia division, said: \u201c2015 was a year of tremendous contradictions that held the possibility \u2013 and at times what seemed the promise \u2013 of a generous, welcoming and fair Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, those contradictions were resolved with an embrace of cruel and repressive migration and asylum policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the years since, the EU has turned progressively toward Fortress Europe,\u201d Sunderland adds.<\/p>\n

Asylum applications in Europe graphic<\/a><\/p>\n

In the aftermath of 2015, the Balkan route became much harder, with barbed-wire fences and armed pushbacks by border police.<\/p>\n

In the central Mediterranean, Italy\u2019s humanitarian approach gave way. Operation Mare Nostrum, led by the Italian navy, and which had focused on rescuing migrant vessels in distress, was superseded by Operation Triton, which was intended to patrol the Mediterranean more than save lives.<\/p>\n

Torn clothing hangs from barbed wire at a border crossing checkpoint on the Polish-Belarusian border near Ku\u017anica, eastern Poland.<\/p>\n

European prosecutors used laws designed to tackle organised crime to pursue people smugglers \u2013 not to stop the abuse of refugees on such routes, however, but to curb migration flows. When NGOs stepped in to fill the gap, launching rescue operations in Libyan waters, Italian authorities impounded ships and arrested volunteer crews.<\/p>\n

Italy began closing its ports to incoming migrant vessels from Libya. In 2017, the then\u2011interior minister Marco Minniti, of the centre\u2011left Democratic party, struck a deal with the Libyan coastguard<\/a> to intercept and return migrants to Libya \u2013 where aid agencies have reported widespread torture and abuse.<\/p>\n

The migration crisis became a decisive issue in the European elections of June 2024, helping far\u2011right parties that demanded closed borders and mass returns to power \u2013 and many of them won.<\/p>\n

Last year, Italy\u2019s far\u2011right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, opened two centres in Albania<\/a> designed to hold men who were intercepted in international waters while trying to cross from Africa to Europe. Greece secretly expelled thousands of asylum seekers, abandoning many of them on inflatable life rafts in the Aegean Sea, while the Hungarian government ordered the closure of its border with Serbia and the construction of a fence along the frontier.<\/p>\n

The result has been a catastrophic rise in the number of deaths.<\/p>\n

Refugees from African countries aboard a small boat in distress in the Mediterranean Sea in 2017.<\/p>\n

Monica Minardi, president of M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res Italy, said: \u201cMore than 32,000 people have lost their lives in the attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea since 2014, while migrants and asylum seekers are left with no alternative than risk their life to seek safety and protection.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom Spain to Croatia to Greece, we have seen brutal and sometimes deadly violence used to prevent people from entering,\u201d Sunderland says. \u201cFor all the terrible policies and practices we saw in 2015 (and before), it was still a time when Merkel said: \u2018We can do this.\u2019 Now the German government is pushing people back at the border and trying to abolish family reunification.\u201d<\/p>\n

A decade has passed since Somar\u2019s journey. Today, the future for migrants \u2013 and of Europe itself \u2013 remains uncertain, as intolerance grows across the continent. In Germany, where Somar lives, the far-right and anti-migration Alternative f\u00fcr Deutschland (AfD) party came second in February\u2019s federal elections, with more than 20% of the vote.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, fortified with barbed wire and systematic pushbacks, Europe continues to close itself off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The trip would be tough, Somar Kreker knew, but he was not overly fearful. It was the summer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[2000,299,1824],"class_list":{"0":"post-386758","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-germany"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115122229933026444","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}