[Kurdish Syrians, Beyond the Border Crossing](http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/18/kurdish-syrians-beyond-the-border-crossing/?module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog Main&contentCollection=Multimedia&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs&region=Body&_r=0)

[](http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/18/kurdish-syrians-beyond-the-border-crossing/?module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog Main&contentCollection=Multimedia&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs&region=Body&_r=0)

Still, Esa Ylijaasko, a Finnish documentary photographer, was ambivalent. He was intrigued by the unrest but felt little need to photograph the same things so many were already doing, until he discovered a blighted Istanbul enclave that was home to Kurdish refugees fleeing Syria’s civil war.