General Chat

It never was for Kurds, Maggie. Those who have read up on the history know that.

So Turkey is/was not such a 'safe' option then

News this morning says that Turkey is on the brink of civil war.

Hungary is going to close its borders.

Sky News spent a day watching families arriving on a beach in Lesbos.

This is going to get so much worse.

If the poor man and his family were not genuine refugees then he sure paid the price. My sympathy goes to him for who he has lost.

There was some confusion over the application made by the sister in Canada for the other brother. In her distraught state at the news of the deaths of her sister in law and nephews I don't suppose she made complete sense to the reporters at her door and things could have been misunderstood and misreported.

Liz

if my teeth had been extracted under torture, I think they are something I might mention if people asked why I was trying to get away

I would expect them to understand the utter horror of what I had been subjected to, and maybe even imagine having all their teeth pulled out by cruel and vicious torturers seeking to cause me as much pain as possible, in order to get whatever they wanted out of me

I really think I just would not be expecting people to hear that and then go off muttering that the only reason I was trying to get into Europe was to get a nice free set of dentures

I think we might very rightly and literally call that adding insult to injury

OK, if you read the extremist views on the www articles against migration the focus on his fleeing to Turkey and teeth. The moderate articles cite his torture and his sister's first application for his brother Mohammed.

You read whichever you are drawn towards according the the headline!

Indeed, facts are facts and should whenever possible be quoted correctly and in full and only when the truth of a story is known, with as much background information as possible, thus avoiding speculation.

I will repeat again though what I have said previously, unless one has lived through the situation oneself, one really cannot say what one would do in the circumstances..... however I know damn well I would try to put as much distance between IS (and Assad equally) and my family as humanly possible ( legally or otherwise)..

Facts are facts and care should be taken to quote these things correctly.

Edit - this was addressed to Guinevere

Many thanks for posting the link Rose

The boys are dead, their mother is dead. The father is staying in Syria to be near their graves. Can we not let them rest in peace?

Edit - this was addressed to Claire

They were refused in June. I'd love to post the link, but my PC is unwell, and I haven't got a hang of my tablet yet. But it's in the Huffington Post - not owned by Murdoch!

Edit:I see the Canadian government reckons it didn't receive a request for a refugee visa from Abdullah Kurdi. Well, they would, wouldn't they? His sister had been raising money for their air fare. Once the visa 'hadn't been received' or refused in June, they were desperate.

This is the link I posted on the other thread, I would suggest Bob that you have a read ( and anyone else who missed it)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/aunt-of-alan-kurdi-drowned-syrian-boy-did-not-apply-to-sponsor-family-in-canada-1.3214517

Their refugee application to move to Canada was NOT refused as it wasn't applied for in the first place.

I stand chastised. Sorry miss. Won't do it again.

Bob, this was discussed on the RR thread recently, and the real story was told, as explained by Maggie.

I think we should be more charitable to these people even tho there are probably some who have the wrong reasons for travelling.


Lizx

bob this has already been gone through on the deleted thread , perhaps you missed it?

Exactly, and you said you weren't taking it personally and I agreed with you.

I didn't say that you were making a personal attack on me Guinevere, someone else did.

A question is hardly a personal attack, so it's not surprising that you don't think it is, bob.

Syrians are refugees not migrants or immigrants.

I wasn't making a point at all, merely suggesting that not all of these people are fleeing for their lives. For the record, I am not anti immigrant, and feel that we should take genuine refugees. I am not taking your comments as a personal attack on me, feel free to disagree with me as much as you like. I am quite a nice bloke really.