© AFP/File
- Syrian refugees made 884,461 asylum claims in Europe between April 2011 and October 2016
- Now, many are leaving after an increase in anti-Muslim sentiment
- Some are hiring smugglers to exit Europe illegally
- Germany offers around $1,420 asylum seekers who want to legally withdraw their asylum application
"I decided to try another time because I have no home or country to go back to," she said.
Her second attempt was successful. They made it to Greece and were eventually granted asylum in Denmark. But, after only a year in the Scandinavian country, and despite the risks she took to get there, Um Farouk decided to leave Europe and return to Turkey alone.
Comment: Islamophobia and the culture clash may be one of the reasons for Syrians wanting to go away from Europe. But this article omits another aspect of the story - a more positive one. That is, the fact that Syrians are going back home to Syria in the thousands because the Syrian and Russian militaries have cleaned the land of ISIS. Cultural differences are secondary when you have the opportunity to go back to the land you grew up in and never wanted to leave in the first place, but were forced to due to a war of aggression from terrorist groups. See:
Syria: Thousands of refugees returning following failure of US-led war