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AFP / Bulent Kilic

Waiting for the gate to open

Tuesday 9 February 2016

"It’s just crazy that this is still happening. Five years and it’s still happening. Five years that you have this war in Syria. And today you again have thousands of people massed on the border with Turkey," writes AFP's Istanbul-based photographer Bulent Kilic.

"These people, they know how to run. They’ve been running for the past five years and now it’s time to run again. So they’ve picked up and they’ve run. And now they’re just waiting for the gate to open.

"And you can’t imagine the conditions these people are living in right now.... there are children everywhere. Every family has two to three children. The whole place is full of children.... It’s heartbreaking to see kids in these conditions."

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AFP Photo / Bulent Kilic

Fleeing through the eye of a needle

Monday 15 June 2015

"We have been on the Turkey-Syria border for a week now, within sight of Tal Abyad where Kurdish forces are battling Islamic State jihadists for control," writes AFP's Bulent Kilic. "On Sunday, June 14, thousands of people fleeing the fighting suddenly appeared from behind the hill and swarmed down towards the border fence. Everything happened in five minutes. It was like a Hollywood film."

"I have been photographing this refugee crisis for nearly four years now, but yesterday was different. Almost every woman had children with her. I have never seen anything like it."

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AFP Photo / Bulent Kilic

Inside Kobane

Wednesday 28 January 2015

"We've been waiting for two days to get into Kobane, ever since Kurdish fighters wrested back the town from IS jihadists. Finally, this morning, the Turkish authorities say they will allow us access for a few hours," writes AFP photographer Bulent Kilic. "When this all started, I was watching Kobane from the outside. The bombing, the fighting, it was like hell. After all this, to enter the city, for the fight to be over, that is powerful for me too."

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AFP Photo / Bulent Kilic

Back among the living

Wednesday 31 December 2014

“These two faces tell the story of Turkey’s deadliest ever industrial disaster,” writes Bulent Kilic, who captured this embrace between a father and his son, rescued from a horrific death after a mine blast left hundreds trapped underground.

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