Irregular migrants on move to reach Europe

ISTANBUL/EDIRNE, Turkey

Hoping to reach Europe, irregular migrants in Turkey came together at designated locations early morning Sunday, on the move to country's western border.

They have been set in motion after Ankara's announcement that it would not stop migrants aspiring to cross over to Europe.

The migrants, including infants, women and children, gathered at four points in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, to get on buses leaving for Edirne.

One such asylum seeker said that he, along with his wife and three children, were waiting to cross the border.

"I came to Turkey from Raqqa, Syria, where I was a field worker, and have been living in Ankara for 7 years," Ahmad al Muhammad told Anadolu Agency, adding that they wanted to go to Germany.

Husam Arnap, who worked as a barber in the Turkish city of Konya, said he could not keep up with the high costs of living, and wished to settle in the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, at the Turkish-Greek border, migrants have gathered in front of Pazarkule border point -- a buffer zone surrounded with razor wires set up by Greek security forces.

Greek border security occasionally use tear gas to prevent the migrants from entering its territories.

Some migrants move to border villages in order to cross through Meric River, while others wait in the buffer zone, hoping that the frontier will open one day.

They often sleep in the forests: in tents or even outdoors, and try lighting fires to keep themselves warm.

*Writing by Firdevs Bulut