TRT World - World in Focus: Europes Refugee Challenge*

REFUGEE INFLUX REACHES RECORD NUMBERS
Tear gassed in Macedonia and blocked out of Hungary. But they’re still flowing into Europe. Recent incidents in Macedonia have once again drawn the attention of European leaders to the refugee crisis. German leader Angela Merkel and her French counterpart Francois Hollande met in Berlin and called for a unified European response to the issue, after the number of people seeking asylum in Europe hit a record high. So far this year, almost 270,000 thousand people have landed in Europe through the Mediterranean. This is already more than the number of arrivals from last year - and there’s still more than four months to go until the year’s end. Most of them are fleeing civil war and poverty from countries like Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Somalia. But it’s a dangerous journey. Nearly 2,400 refugees have died on the way without ever reaching Europe.

MISERY ON EUROPEAN SHORES
Many of those who do manage to make it across the Mediterranean land in Greece, where a new struggle begins.
But Greece is only a stop-off and most of the refugees wish to eventually reach Western Europe. To do that, they not only need to cross the Balkans but also overcome border security. And THAT hasn’t been easy, as they recently found out on the Greek-Macedonian border.

NEVER ENDING STRUGGLE
The refugees want to make it to countries like Sweden, United Kingdom, France and Germany because they believe a better life awaits them there. Very few make it to their final destination. And as this Syrian family in Germany has found out, even fewer find a better life: "That was Mohamed, holding his son. He has to travel 30 kilometers every day to see his family. That has made life difficult for his wife, Shiren: "Well, that is very hard. Especially for my son. Every night just before going to bed he cries and asks where his dad is and why he can't be with us. Why must he be so far away, since he's always been with us? Even during our escape, be it over land or water, we were always together. And now that we've arrived in Germany, we are apart,"