This is why we left.

Our team has recently spoken to a group of men from Syria in one of the informal settlements at the outskirts of Sombor, a northern Serbian city near the border with Hungary. Standing in circle, the men spoke about their refugee experience. The oldest among them shared why he decided to go to Europe using smuggling networks: “There is no other way. The European Union keeps saying we should ask for visas and travel legally but that is impossible. I had lived in Turkey for years with my wife and children, with no documentation, no safety. I am an electrician. I have tried to apply for a working visa in the embassy of Germany in Turkey but they asked for so many documents that I have no way of requiring. They asked for the original of my diploma, but that was burned down together with all of my house in Aleppo years ago. This (he points to man on his left side) is a friend of mice, we know each other back from Syria. He is a mechanic, we used to work together often.” His friend then added: “Syrian people are hard working. We don’t want charity or benefits. We want to earn our piece of bread, to contribute to the country which accepts us.” Another man standing next to him continued: “I was a professor teaching at the Institute of Technical Sciences in Damascus. I would never have left my country if it wasn’t for the war. The government wanted to recruit me to kill my brothers, my own blood. I am from Damasus, the two of them from Aleppo, the four of them from Idlib, and him (he points to an underage boy travelling alone) is from a village near Homs. Bashar and his government wanted us to shoot at each other, to kill each other. This is why we have left.” The men who spoke at the beginning added: “The ones who are responsible for the war in Syria and the ones who have built fences on the borders are the same people and for them this is just a game. And we remain refugees till the end of our lives no matter where we live.”