Syrian refugees stranded in Turkey are being hosted in a small church in Istanbul where they are being given food and accommodation.
The Meryem Ana church in the city's Samatya district is looking after the refugees while they wait for their asylum requests to be approved so they can join relatives in Europe, according to Daily Sabah.
Former textile businessman Naaim Lazie, who managed to get his wife and three children to Germany via Greece but was stranded himself after he was defrauded by human smugglers, said it was a "rough journey" for his family but they made it anyway. "I now await them to settle down there and I will travel later," he said.
Church volunteer Silva Kurtalan said most guests were women "waiting for their husbands who already made it to Europe to take them."
The Meryem Ana church is also hosting Syrian Armenians and Berbers, according to Hürriyet Daily News. Turgay Alınışık, the manager of the church's foundation for the Syriac community, told Hürriyet that the church provides refuge for all, regardless of their religion or sect.
Volunteer Silva Kurtalan said the church was doing its best to help people stranded in Turkey after they fell into the hands of unscrupulous smugglers and were scammed of their money. He said many had feared for their lives. Many of the families in the church stranded there with children, while they wait for their paperwork to be completed.
