'We sleep in fear', say Turks on Syrian border

Turkey has dramatically stepped up its involvement in the conflicts across its south-eastern border, bombing both militants from the Islamic State (IS) group and Kurdish militants, and allowing the US to use a key airbase.

BBC Turkish spoke to residents on the Syrian border to find out how the military escalation has affected their daily lives.

The first two contributors come from Beylerbeyi and Lower Beylerbeyi villages - directly north of the Syrian city of Aleppo, just on the Turkish side of the border.

The third contributor did not want his name or location to be given.

Village headman Ahmet Solak - Beylerbeyi village

Our village is 100m (330 feet) from the border. IS controls the Syrian side of the border. We see IS militants from time to time. They can come all the way to the border fence.

The border has always been busy since the start of the Syrian war. But since the Turkish air strikes against IS, it has got busier.

Of course, this worries us. Our kids used to take the livestock to the areas next to the border for grazing without any problems. Now they can't as they fear some stray bullet or an attack could come from the other side. We see military build-ups.

We used to sleep on the roofs because of the heat. Now we can't as bullets may come. We don't get too close to the border unless we really have to.

Border villager Adem Kaya - Lower Beylerbeyi

We live right on the border but we are worried and live in fear. We particularly fear that the Turkish army is going to move into Syria from here. If that happens, our lives will be in danger. IS would attack the border villages. If IS attacks us, the whole village would have to move from here.

We sleep in fear. Warplanes fly over us. That makes us even more worried - especially about our kids. Drones are making reconnaissance flights.

I would leave my village if I could but I don't have the means. We don't want war on our border. We want to live carefree!

People smuggler who does not want to be named

I live in a village close to the border. After the war, smuggling thrived. I used to smuggle people in and out of Syria until 10 days ago. I charged 50 Turkish lira per person (£12; $18) - of course, if it was an IS militant I charged double!

I can't do any smuggling at present because of the military mobilising. After the clashes between the Turkish army and IS, security has been tightened along the border. I tried to smuggle someone twice but soldiers showed up right away.

We can't do our job any more. Warplanes are flying over us. We hope things along the border normalise soon.