Jenan Moussa is a great Middle East reporter and today she went into a short explication of how “the Facebook Factor” is helping Syrians escape Turkey and begin the long arduous trip to Europe by way of human smugglers:
Tonight I will tweet in details about the surge in nb of Syrian refugees to the EU. Who is leaving &why now? Watch this space. @akhbar
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) September 6, 2015
I'll state obvious reason first: After 4 years of war & w/ no end in sight, increasing nb of Syrians r sick &tired of war, want to leave >
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) September 6, 2015
> Secondly, more Syrians are leaving now because trip to EU is relatively safer & cheaper than last year. Ill explain more > @akhbar
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) September 6, 2015
> Last yr most Syrians traveled from Turkey or Egypt to Italy, which cost $6000 p/p &is 1800 km trip by boat. This changed in 2015 > @akhbar
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) September 6, 2015
> So bcz it has become cheaper & safer 2 travel from Turkey via Greece, there is a sharp increase. More Syrians can afford it now > @akhbar
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) September 6, 2015
Most Syrians I met in Syria & south Turkey who r preparing their trip to EU, are using Facebook to organize their trip > @akhbar
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) September 6, 2015
> There r many Facebook pages in Arabic with information on how 2 contact smugglers, telephone numbers, routes, time tables boats > @akhbar
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) September 6, 2015
Smuggler also offers trip "via land directly from Istanbul 2 Germany for €6000 p/p, only 1 hr walking rest in car" > pic.twitter.com/IGjtXbjbHD
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) September 6, 2015
Most modern day smugglers have tel numbers on Facebook for WhatsUp &Viber. Easy for Syrians to contact them &organize logistics of EU-trip >
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) September 6, 2015
Here words of a Syrian who managed to get to Germany: "I was almost about to sell my kidney" to get trip fees https://t.co/GCobo7wHHD >
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) September 6, 2015
Yes i posted an advertisment
I was ready and still ready to sell any thing to bring my children and wife to Germany https://t.co/htxFeeOrxW— أموي اصلي (@chamsyria) September 6, 2015
So we’ve been trying to discover the reason why all of these refugees suddenly started appearing on the doorstep of the European Union. If you’re conspiracy minded you’ll think that it’s a big ISIS orchestrated campaign to overtake Europe. Or you could see Angela Merkel’s guilt over the sins of World War II and the Holocaust as the principle cause, as she made the call to invite as many refugees as possible.
But, if you’re a fan of Occam’s Razor, then perhaps Jenan’s explanation that the discovery of a new, cheaper smuggling route, and the increased access to smugglers via Facebook, is more of a reasonable answer.
Or what the heck, why not all three?