RSI – 22/10/2019
Akcakale is one of the border crossings between Turkey and Syria.
Until recently, when ISIS was well rooted in northeastern Syria, Islamic State militants were on the other side of the border.
Today the region is controlled by the Syrian Kurds, and this is why the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has decided to launch a new military operation in that area.
Furthermore, Ankara wants to create a buffer zone in that territory where it can transfer some of the almost 4 million Syrian refugees who live in Turkey.
There is a large Syrian community in Akcakale, and not everyone is convinced to go back to their country. However, after years of living together, several Turks think differently.
I told the fears and hopes of both communities.
Here you can watch the video report I produced (with videomaker Paolo Spallasso) for RSI (Swiss National Public Radio and Television)…
