From bitcoin dreamer to fugitive, fleeing the Taliban for Turkey

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TATVAN, Turkey, Aug. 25 (Reuters) – Muhammad Ali said he dreamed of starting a cryptocurrency business before the Taliban began their sweep across Afghanistan, forcing him on an intimidating journey west Iran and Turkey, avoiding border guards and security searches as it passes. .

The victory of the Taliban in Afghanistan has raised concerns in Turkey, relay of many migrants trying to reach Europe and which is already home to nearly 4 million Syrians, from a new influx of refugees. It has tightened security at its border with Iran, but some Afghans continue to pass through.

Sheltered in a drainage tunnel outside of Tatvan district in Bitlis province in eastern Turkey, Ali, a young man in his twenties from the Afghan province of Khost, said he was awaiting transport to the west and wanted to travel to Europe. About fifty others took shelter with him.

Ali said he studied computer science and taught web and graphic design in Afghanistan. He said he had a YouTube channel where he posted videos on topics such as how to make money online.

“I was planning a bitcoin or ethereum mining business … Suddenly everything changed and the Taliban took control of all of Afghanistan,” he said.

“There is no internet. If there is no internet, I cannot do my job there. If we had smart phones with cameras, the Taliban would not. would not allow it. “

After walking for weeks through Iran, migrants entering Turkey’s eastern province of Van head on foot, by bus or by boat to the town of Tatvan on the western shores of Lake Van.

On their way, they try to escape police checkpoints, raids on their hiding places and coastguard ships patrolling the huge lake, where a boat carrying around sixty migrants sank the year. last, killing them all.

Wais Muhammad Shehrzad, 30, said he left Afghanistan a month ago, paying traffickers $ 1,000 and walking for up to 50 hours at a stretch with little food on the way.

“Our feet have blisters, we have no clothes or food,” he said, removing his shoes to show a bruised ankle and telling the other members of the group to sit down to avoid injury. to be seen.

Shehrzad said he was from Kabul and had worked as a shoemaker and previously as an English teacher. He wanted to go to Istanbul, find work and send money back to his family.

In recent weeks, Turkish police have arrested thousands of Afghan migrants out of an estimated 300,000 in the country. Those captured in Bitlis are being sent to a repatriation center in Van, although Afghans are currently not being returned to their country due to the unrest there.

A day after speaking to Reuters, Ali texted. “We are stopped by the police,” he said.

Additional reporting by Parniyan Zemaryalai in London; Editing by Dominic Evans and Nick Tattersall

Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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