The Chronicles of the Syrian Turmoil
Terrorism,deaths, hunger, and destruction. Sounds like a post-apocalyptic dystopian scene, but it is actually the reality in the country of Syria. We have all heard about the Syrian civil war and we still get informed about it on the news, we read about it and we even hear about it through our every day conversations. But how many of us actually know the whole story? How did everything start, who is involved and what is its impact on the world? It all began after the start of the Arab Spring movement back in 2011 where Arabic-speaking countries across Middle East and North Africa started pro-democratic protests which spread quickly through social media.
One of the rest of the countries influenced by this movement was Syria. Syrians started a series of non-violent protests to express their indignation for their country’s lagging economy, severe droughts, tense religious atmosphere, and government corruption. The first spark of violence occurred in March 2011 where a group of teens and children were arrested for political graffiti writing. This sparked the outrage of the people across Syria, and was followed by a violent and non-democratic response of the Syrian president Bashar al Assad and his government. This is considered to be the start of the Syrian civil war with the civilians and Assad’s government being the two battlefronts. As soon as, this civil war started, various other countries and organizations found a chance to get involved, each one for their own separate interests. This way, inevitably the Syrian civil war turned into a multi-sided global conflict.
The global impact of the Syrian war is massive, as it has consequences not only towards humanity, but also towards the environment, the culture, the economy, as well as the relationships between nations. There are many speculations on how or when this war will end, but non of them is certain. The only certain thing is that there is an on-going humanitarian disaster, where every party gets involved for the sake of their own interests and the real victims are only the citizens.
Consequently the only conclusion we can come to is that the Arab spring quickly turned into a brutal winter.
By The Challengers
Violetta Ioanna Makri Eugenia Skouteri Evelina Karatziou Kyriaki Kyriakoggona
Many thanks to Betty Tsakarestou and Mania Ksenou for the guidance.
SOURCES:
https://www.cnn.com/cnn/2013/08/27/world/meast/syria-civil-war-fast-facts/index.html
