FROM the Bodrum peninsula in Turkey the Greek island of Kos is only four kilometres (2.5 miles) away. European tourists can make the 45-minute crossing comfortably for $19, while those fleeing evil in Syria and elsewhere must pay smugglers a minimum of $1,000 for a perilous night journey in a crowded boat.

Turkey generously opened its borders after the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011. Nearly two million refugees are currently registered in the country, of which about 200,000 are housed in official camps, mostly in the south. A growing number are seeking a better life in the EU and are crossing over to Greece by the thousand every day, causing severe anxiety in parts of Europe and creating tensions along borders farther north.

Not unreasonably EU leaders have turned to the Turkish government for help to stem the flow of migrants. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Brussels in early October to discuss security issues including borders. But his government has rejected an EU offer to reassign €1 billion ($1.12 billion) in aid for refugees. It also opposes opening new camps or setting up processing stations.

Instead Turkey calls for the establishment of a security zone along the border in northern Syria where refugees could be resettled. This would require clearing the area of Islamic State (IS) fighters and, Ankara suggests, handing control to moderate Syrian opposition groups.

The plan would neatly serve Turkey’s separate aim of reducing the influence of Syrian Kurdish fighters. Many Turks are more worried about Kurdish rebels than IS. Yet Germany’s Angela Merkel has expressed doubts that the refugees’ safety could be secured inside Syria. Not entirely by coincidence, the Turkish authorities have generally turned a blind eye to the refugee flow to Europe, though they have repeatedly prevented refugees from crossing the land border to Bulgaria and Greece and driven them back into Turkey.

Death traps

Smugglers do brisk business with Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans and Africans trying to reach Europe across the sea, often at a horrific cost. On September 27th, a group of 17 Syrians and Afghans, including women and children, drowned in the cabin of their capsized boat. Many blame the risks on greedy middlemen. Prices keep on rising and in response refugees are increasingly buying their own rafts, making the crossing even more precarious. A 20 year-old Afghan in Bodrum, who was stopped at sea the night before, says he teamed up with ten others paying $300 each to buy an inflatable raft.

In Izmir, another smuggling hub, refugees stay in cheap hotels in the Basmane district while arranging their trip, if they can afford it. “We saved for years to build a home and in minutes it was destroyed,” says a 26-year-old teacher from Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria. A 35-year-old woman seeks cancer treatment for her four-year-old son. Nearby shops sell life jackets for upward of $20. They are “100 % waterproof”, a merchant insists, but many doubt that. A vendor of sealed passport holders says he has been selling up to 100 per day for the past month.

Refugees contact smugglers through Facebook and by mobile phone. A 55-year-old Christian electrical engineer from the Syrian city of Hama chose a Syrian operator recommended by friends who successfully reached Greece. He and his sister paid $2,000 each, deposited in trust in a Syrian-run office nearby, for what he hoped would be a safe trip in a larger vessel. The money is to be released when he reaches the other side. In the courtyard of a mosque, several families with young children camp on cardboard sheets, relying on hot soup, bread and rice distributed by local shopkeepers and concerned individuals to survive. They are stranded, having exhausted their resources. The men try to find work on construction sites.

As the evening approaches, the pace of activity picks up. Clusters of travellers with backpacks jostle on the corners of streets near the port, waiting for a signal by phone to set off. The approach of winter is creating a sense of urgency. As the sea cools down and the risks of crossing grow the flow is expected to slow. But it will not stop. A volunteer rescue worker in Bodrum says, “The refugees will keep trying until they succeed or die.”