Hannan Adely / North Jersey Record
On the run in Turkey, Yasin Atik changed apartments four times, pulled his children out of school and avoided parks and hospitals where officers might ask for his identification. In his government’s eyes, he was a supporter of terrorists.
In July of last year, Atik escaped with his wife and four children on a small wooden boat across the Meric River, crossing into Greece and then trekking for six hours to safety.
“I thought of myself behind bars, my wife behind bars, the kids by themselves,” said Atik, speaking at the Clifton apartment he shares with two roommates. All recently fled Turkey. “It was unthinkable. So for two years, we kept moving.”
Now, the former philosophy teacher spends his days fixing cellphones and learning English in suburban North Jersey, waiting to reunite with the rest of his family, who have remained in Greece but will soon come to the United States.
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