Syrian refugees drown off coast of #Turkey

Turkish state-run press agency Anadolu reported on Sunday that 17 Syrians – including five children – drowned after their boat sank shortly after departing Turkey’s Bodrum peninsula.

Amir Cicek, governor of Mugla province, said the vessel sank off the Turkish island of Cavusadasi, which lies around 3 kilometers (2 miles) west of the mainland, in the early hours of Sunday as it headed for Kos.

The Aegean Sea crossing to the Greek island has become a favoured route for refugees who have made it to Turkey and want to enter the European Union.

This is the tragic moment a distraught Syrian father says goodbye to his three-year-old son after he drowned as they tried to reach Europe.

The area around Bodrum is a common setting-off point for people desperate to reach Europe, who continue to risk unsafe journey in often rickety boats rather than attempting to cross Turkey’s highly fortified land borders with Greece and Bulgaria.

Some 500 migrants were rescued in seven operations launched over the weekend in the Mediterranean, the Italian coastguard said.

A coastguard spokesman told AFP yesterday that four of the rescue operations had already wound up but the others were ongoing. Merkel said she pledged to bolster cooperation with the government in Ankara after meeting Saturday with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

A Turkish police officer tries to comfort Syrian migrant Hayat…

In a nearby park, local people have built a tent village in recent weeks to offer food, clothing and shelter for the many migrants fleeing conflict and upheaval in Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Eritrea and Afghanistan.