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Migrants find path to Greece less risky

An exhausted migrant rested near Bodrum, Turkey, after failing to board a boat to Greece’s island of Kos on Sunday.BULENT KILIC/AFP

BODRUM, Turkey — As darkness falls and the last of the shorefront cafes in Bodrum clear their tables for the night, dozens of migrants pour out of a waiting bus. In the gloam, they charge for the sea, dragging a large rubber dinghy.

Their smugglers point to the flashing lighthouse on the Greek island of Kos, as little as 25 minutes away in a good boat. In flimsy inflatables, they usually reach there by dawn, quickly puncture their dinghies so no one can force them back, then walk into town.

Viewed from either side, the passage, while risky, is remarkably organized and unfettered. Compared with other routes for migrants crossing the Mediterranean, where more than 2,000 people have died this year, it is a relatively first-class ride.

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So easy and efficient is it that in July the route was used by more than 7,000 refugees — most fleeing wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. At least 2,000 crossed last week alone.

The human tide has overwhelmed the island of Kos, leading its mayor, George Kiritsis, to predict that if he does not get help from Athens, "blood will be shed." And it has left Greece — for now, foremost in Europe — struggling to balance how to humanely accommodate the refugees against the risk of encouraging still more.

For those who make the trip, seeking safety, opportunity, and a new life, the welcome has been less than hoped for.

"In Istanbul, they let us use the toilets for free," said Ayman Almotlak, 31, a Syrian who teaches Arabic and made the crossing to Kos, speaking of the local merchants. "Here not. Why do the Greeks hate us?"

His traveling companion, a veterinarian, Nour Hamad, 31, said, "They throw bottles at us."

Part of the reason is the sheer magnitude of the wave of migrants and refugees, which the Greek government has said is too much for such a crisis-ridden country — let alone an island such as Kos — to handle.

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Doctors Without Borders complained that the Greek authorities were "abusing" the refugees by, at one point last week, forcing them into a stadium, where they remained without proper hygiene, food, or water.

The International Organization for Migration, based in Geneva, said Friday that nearly 250,000 migrants had crossed the Mediterranean to Europe this year, already more than for all of 2014. Greece alone, it said, had reported 134,988 arrivals from Turkey this year.

Singling out the strain on Greece, the United Nations has called for urgent action to address the crisis.

For many refugees, Greece is seen as a stepping-stone to Western Europe. Although Turkey is hosting nearly 2 million Syrian refugees, more than any other country, many Syrians say they do not see a future there.

To get to Europe, they depend on a vast illegal migrant smuggling operation that has grown over the past year as the Syrian civil war grinds on.

"A year ago people were still hopeful that the war might end, but now, with no end in sight, people want to leave and build a new life," said Bashar, 32, a Syrian refugee in Bodrum, who did not want to give his last name. He spent the last year in Turkey getting surgery after he was wounded by a barrel bomb.