Governor of border city Edirne prays with refugees on highway

Edirne Governor Dursun Ali Şahin performed the weekly prayer along with a crowd of Syrian refugees, who were barred by the police in the border city from reaching Greece by land during their journey to Europe. The two Istanbul-bound lanes of the TEM highway were closed entirely for the governor and the 100 Syrian refugees to pray.

Nearly 2,000 of Syrian refugees are in a stand-off with the police for two days in the northwestern Turkish city, which is a transit point for Syrian refugees en route to Greece.

Şahin said that if any country says it will take the Syrian refugees, Turkey will send them by responding to the official call. “But there is no country which has officially invited them,” he told reporters after the prayer.

Edirne governor earlier said on Sep. 16 that Syrian refugees, who arrived in Edirne in an attempt to reach Greece, were given a period of three days to return to Istanbul. "If they don't return in this amount of time, they would sent back by using force."

Syrian refugees, who fled the civil war in their country, wended their way to Edirne over a claim that Greece will open its border to refugees on Tuesday.

The huge crowd, including women and children, had been walking along the international TEM highway after the claim was circulated over the social media on Monday evening.