Iraqi refugees duped by smugglers

Iraqi refugee Suzan (L) and her daughter, Aya, are seen at their home in İstanbul. Suzan fled Iraq months ago, paying a man $18,000 to help her and her daughter cross the border from Turkey into Greece. In the depths of despair, Suzan doused herself and her 14-year-old daughter with gasoline and prepared to set them both on fire. The Iraqi refugee’s dream of reaching Europe was dead. Suzan, a hairstylist, had fled her homeland months earlier under threat from Islamic extremists and paid a smuggler $18,000 to sneak her and her daughter Aya from Turkey to Greece. But when they reached Edirne, near the Greek border, the smuggler vanished. Suzan returned to Istanbul, where she feared the only fate for her and Aya was prostitution. “My dream was like a sand castle taken down by a big wave,” Suzan said. “I did not want to see the... [read full story]