The Last Bus to Europe

February 15, 2021
Season 3
Episode 1

Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees in the world, but they are facing a brutal backlash from Turkish society. In February 2020, during the onset of the pandemic, the Turkish government misinformed refugees that they could leave Turkey and enter Greece. Turkish photojournalist Özge Sebzeci boarded a bus from Istanbul to Greece filled with migrants headed to Europe, and she tells the story of their journey. Then she weaves in the Turkish narrative by getting to know an anti migration politician and a pro-refugee activist to understand how they shaped their opinions.
The situation on the bus gets tense and kids start crying because migrants don’t want to cross illegally through Evros river. Photo: Özge Sebzeci
The situation on the bus gets tense and kids start crying because migrants don’t want to cross illegally through Evros river. Photo: Özge Sebzeci
A lot of the migrants who want to cross the Turkish-Greek border are single men without families. Photo: Özge Sebzeci
A lot of the migrants who want to cross the Turkish-Greek border are single men without families. Photo: Özge Sebzeci
Syrian and Iraqi migrants on the bus don’t want to cross illegally through Evros river. Photo: Özge Sebzeci
Syrian and Iraqi migrants on the bus don’t want to cross illegally through Evros river. Photo: Özge Sebzeci
İsa (in the middle), 45, a shoemaker from Aleppo, lives in Gaziantep since the Syrian war had begun in 2011. He took his oldest son Ahmed (on the left), 22, with him on the journey. Photo: Özge Sebzeci
İsa (in the middle), 45, a shoemaker from Aleppo, lives in Gaziantep since the Syrian war had begun in 2011. He took his oldest son Ahmed (on the left), 22, with him on the journey. Photo: Özge Sebzeci
The bus finally arrives back to Istanbul.
The bus finally arrives back to Istanbul.
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