Refugees

Dignity at sea level

31 May May 2016 0907 31 May 2016

A cemetery of 200 floating gravestones off the Aegean coast of Turkey pays tribute to the 4000 Syrians who died in the Mediterranean sea, and attempts to wash away the apathy of our collective conscience.

  • ...
Cimitero
  • ...

A cemetery of 200 floating gravestones off the Aegean coast of Turkey pays tribute to the 4000 Syrians who died in the Mediterranean sea, and attempts to wash away the apathy of our collective conscience.

«In memory of thousands of refugees, who lost their lives trying to cross the sea, with The Sea Cemetery we want to help support more refugees, dreaming of an honorable life. The more people respond to our campaign, the less this sea cemetery will grow. And, even if it's just a drop in the ocean, it's a support to life». That’s the message accompanying the The Sea Cemetery project description, a heartbreaking and creative tribute to the estimated 4,000 Syrian refugees who have died crossing the Mediterranean sea since the start of the Syrian civil war. The project is ran by TBWA\Istanbul for humanitarian aid group Support to Life campaign.

If you want to protect us from the sea, protect our dignity on the ground

Young Syrian refugee

Including 200 styrofoam headstones resembling polished marble slabs, the sea cemetery is located about 200 meters off the Aegean coast of Turkey. Each stone carries the name of a Syrian refugee who disappeared in the water.


Their memory though, is still floating in the conscience of the world community. At least we like to think so. The indifference towards the fate of these 4000 men and women seems to reign supreme worldwide. The inadequate media coverage and the politicization of the Syrian civil war have pushed the plights and the suffering of the Syrians refugees away from the consideration, to say the least, it deserves. The waves of the sea is their final resting place. The underlying root causes that set the conditions for thier journey to Europe should be on front page.

The truth is, we, the human beings of the 21st century who talk about crossing the barriers of outer space, are too stingy to open our gates for our unfortunate brothers. We dream about populating the uninhabited planets and we cannot even share this one in all fairness, rightly writes Fatima Raza in this post Sea cemetery: The height of human folly.

Photo credit: Support to Life

Related news