On a winter night in 2017, I crossed border from Turkey to Greece and arrived in Thessaloniki. I was with 14 other people. Several of them were repeatedly pushed back to Turkey after being tortured and imprisoned for several nights. Everywhere we stayed, someone would say, “Let’s leave soon. We were already arrested here last time!”
More than ten hours were spent walking in extreme cold. The weather was extremely cold and rainy. I have experienced many freezing nights in my life. When I was 12 or younger, I waited in line with my mother for hours for oil quotas on snowy nights in Tehran and Sanandaj. Freezing days. But that night was truly harrowing. I am glad I am not on that damn border anymore, even on the coldest nights during these four years. It’s been 4 years but I still think about it.
On the basis of my own experiences, I am collecting and publishing testimonies here:
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