Syrian refugees take shelter in abandoned cattle farm in northwestern Turkey
ÇANAKKALE – Doğan News Agency
A group of Syrian refugees have turned an abandoned cattle facility in the northwestern province of Çanakkale into a makeshift residence camp. They are using solar panels to generate electricity and water comes from the facility, which once offered a collective business opportunity to some 50 locals.
The migrants in the Bayramiç district live in the facility’s lodging, founded in 2010 on a government loan worth 4 million Turkish Liras, which is roughly $1.15 million.
Some families live in the yard of the facility, which sits on 44 decares of land.
Although conditions are hardly ideal, migrants who make a living on working on Bayramiç farms say they are content as they have found a living space free from rent.
An investigation was opened into the facility in 2012 and two auditors sent by the Food, Agriculture and Livestock Ministry who examined the facility found out the company was not paying back its debt.
The company was handed over to a trust during the process of bankruptcy but hundreds of cattle and machinery worth millions of liras were lost.
