Opposition Activists Carrying Aid Denied Entry to Syria
Authorities prevented a convoy of 200 opposition activists Thursday from entering Syria via Turkey with medical aid for victims of the ongoing uprising, an Agence France Presse reporter at the border said.
Some of the activists said they had traveled from as far afield as the United States and western Europe in order to join the so-called Freedom Convoy which included five buses and several cars.
Brandishing Syrian flags, the convoy was initially stopped by Turkish police at a lay-by, some 15 kilometers from Oncupinar customs gate in the southeastern Turkish town of Kilis.
And a delegation from the convoy which approached the border was later turned back by Syrian officials and returned empty-handed.
"Our delegation was denied entry and so we have decided to stay here until we reach a decision all together," said Dalati Bilal, a 42-year-old Syrian-American businessman who had traveled to Turkey from California.
"If the Syrians refuse (to let us in) then we will just camp here until they allow us to. Our plan is to camp here tonight.
"The whole idea of the convoy is to support the Syrian people inside, to show that we are with them even if it's so little what we are doing. They are dying for freedom."
Zeyna Adi, one of the organizers, told AFP that a second Freedom Convoy which had been hoping to enter Syria via Jordan was canceled at "the last minute" after being blocked by the authorities there.
The convoy in Turkey had left for the border in mid-morning, traveling on from Gaziantep towards the border post which lies on the road leading towards Syria's second city of Aleppo.
As they were stuck in Kilis, many of the activists began singing slogans denouncing the regime in Damascus of President Bashar al-Assad, including chants such as "Assad Will Go To Hell" and "Freedom Forever."
The Syrian National Council, an umbrella organization including most of the opposition groups in Syria, has expressed its support for the convoy.
Turkey and its Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, once a close ally of Assad, have been at the forefront of international criticism over the Damascus regime's bloody crackdown on protests.
Both Erdogan and Jordan's King Abdullah II have called on Assad to quit.
Turkey has also become a haven for many Syrian opposition activists since the start of the uprising some 10 months ago.
Source: Agence France Presse
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