Feature: Turkish town wary of return of migrants from Greece

For 17-year-old Turkish youth Emirhan Demircaki, the upcoming return of migrants from Greece to his hometown, under a deal between Turkey and the European Union (EU), means insecurity and job loss.

He was echoed by others in this coastal town of 45,000 residents in western Turkey, as the first batch of migrants numbering hundreds are set to land here on Monday from Lesbos, a Greek island just an hour away by ferry.

"They (the authorities) expect 20,000 migrants to stay in the camps that will be built in Dikili," Demircaki told Xinhua. "That's too much."

"We live in harmony and peace here, so we are very much afraid that refugees will disturb the order of our small town," he explained. "First of all they will constitute a cheap labor force. I'm working here for 30 lira (about 11 U.S. dollars) per day, and he is going to work for 10 lira. It is not fair. People are afraid of losing their jobs."

Other residents agreed.

"Dikili will be finished if they are going to live here," claimed Ahmet Isik, a retired man aged 70. "Tourism will be finished, economy will be down, our security will be gone. People will lose their jobs, the rents will go up. If it is so we will lock our doors and we will go to find another place to live."

Local NGOs had set up a platform in the town's main square close to the dock where the migrants will be sent ashore, hanging up a banner that read "We do not want a refugee camp in Dikili. Here we stand up."

Next to the platform, Demircaki and other volunteers were urging passersby to sign a petition against the arrival of migrants and the construction of refugee camps in the town, and the petition will be submitted to the mayor of Izmir, the capital of the synonymous province where Dikili is located.

Many responded by signing their names, among them are young and old, men and women, able and disabled, with some four thousands signatures already reported by Demircaki.

"Why always Turkey? Why not any other European country," said a fisherman in his 60s. "We have three million of Syrians here, it is more than enough."

As a matter of fact, Turkey is facing an array of challenges at home and abroad on top of a huge migrant population to be cared for, though the country has been hit lately by a string of deadly attacks that have whipped up a growing sense of insecurity.

"Turkey is not anymore a safe country," bemoaned an old man in Dikili. "Every day a bomb explodes somewhere, people die. So I'm asking them: where we should go, to Iran? to Syria?"

The EU, unable and unwilling to face up to the ongoing influx of refugees, finalized a deal with Turkey on March 18, under which migrants who have crossed illegally from Turkey into Greece from March 20 will be sent back.

Ankara accepted the return of migrants in exchange for financial aid, visa-free travel for Turks and accelerated EU membership talks.

About one million migrants have been smuggled into Greek islands via Dikili and surrounding areas, some 5,000 losing their lives in the Aegean Sea.

"We understand that they are in a very tragic position," said Mehmet Ertekin, another resident in Dikili. "It is a humanitarian tragedy. I feel very sad for them but we cannot do more." Endit