Three months after the wreck of Cutro, where at least 94 people died, we traveled to Izmir, Turkey. The province was the starting point of the boat that in February sank off the coast of Calabria, Italy, and is home to one of the biggest communities of refugees in the country. We met Moussa, Abdulkadir and Maamoun, three young Syrian refugees who yearn for a better life, hanging between the impossible dream to return to Syria and the hope to find their future in Europe.

During the electoral campaign for the second round of the 2023 presidential elections, the main Turkish political parties spread propaganda on Syrian refugees to obtain the votes of the nationalist electorate. These stories must be told to better understand one of the most important humanitarian crisis of our time.