IZMIR, Turkey — The Turkish coastal city of Izmir and the nearby Greek island of Lesbos have become the final resting places of refugees whose desperate journeys to Europe ended in tragedy in the Aegean Sea. The plot of land where Lesbos buried refugees ran out of space earlier this year, and a second plot of land was opened. In Izmir, wooden signs inscribed with numbers mark the graves in a potter's field converted into a refugee cemetery.

Izmir has been one of the main departure points for refugees seeking to cross from Turkey to Greece. Syrian families sleeping in parks and traffic islands had become a common sight across the city in the crisis days that led up to the Turkey-EU agreement to stem the flow in March. A “refugee industry” flourished in the city, including underground workshops manufacturing dinghies — often unseaworthy — and fake life jackets filled with nonbuoyant material. Even shops on main streets sold life jackets and other supplies the refugees needed for their journeys, as Syrian child beggars became a fixture in the streets and better-off Syrians sent rental prices soaring.

Those sights have now disappeared, with Turkey tightening control on its Aegean coastline since signing the deal with the European Union. For many refugees, however, Izmir has become a final resting place.

In a large cemetery in the district of Dogancay, a plot adjacent to the potter’s field is being used as a burial ground for refugees. Hakan Yildirim, who has worked as a grave digger here for the past six months, was the first person Al-Monitor met upon entering the ground. Yildirim, 17, recalled how bodies used to come every day in the winter months. “One day 12 bodies were brought at once. They were said to have drowned when their boat sank. The bodies had been washed and shrouded. The imam said prayers, and we buried them. There was no one else. There were three kids among the dead, and my heart went out especially for them,” Yildirim said. The arrival of bodies, he added, has phased out in the past several months.