Now everyone lives somewhere else and has their new lives
Sometimes when you don’t understand the language that is being spoken, you can still follow whats going on, simply from the person’s facial expressions. — Büşra Dündar
His Story
It was in December 2015 when I was on my way to a Civil Resistance workshop and that I was taken by force to the compulsory recruitment by the PYD. I traveled by public transportation and when there was a checkpoint they took me. I couldn’t get used to it, because I don’t like to hold a gun, killing and all those kind of things. I am actually working on non-violence, human rights and transitional justice, so it’s completely against my values. It was not my job, nor my precepts.I have tried many times to run away but I couldn’t. I was wanted for compulsory military service of the regime as well. On the first of February, exactly 50 days after they arrested me, I ran away. I went home and said goodbye to my family and my friends. On the seventh of February I was in Turkey. I came illegally, there was no other option.
The first two times that I tried, I was caught and police sent me back. Eventually I made it because I crossed the border from a different city. The way to Istanbul was hard, it was raining and the roads were full of mud. I went to Nusaybin, then to Mersin and after all to Istanbul.
It was really hard to leave home. Before I left, all my friends came to say goodbye. I cried more with them than with my parents. When I was on my way to Turkey, still in Syria, I wanted to go back. I didn’t want to leave. The place I love the most was the basement of our house, because it was the place where my friends and I hang out always. We were there basically everyday. This place was the source of so many ideas. Now, none of my friends are in Syria anymore. They’re all in Europe. And the basement is empty.
I’m working in the same organization I used to work with in Syria now. I am to happy to work in the same organization, but I have a different job. I worked as a trainer, now I work as a coordinator. I would love to complete my education, but I’m not really into staying here. I’m thinking about leaving Turkey and settle down somewhere else. I like the people and the atmosphere, but I have nobody here. Some of my family and friends are in Syria, some of them are in Sweden. I don’t want to go illegally again, so I’m waiting for the right moment to leave.
My love lives outside of Syria and Turkey. We have been together for 3 years. We haven’t seen each other for over a year and I would would like to tell her it’s not easy to see the person I love just on a screen. You are my goal in the life.. And I’m trying my best to be with you.
I wish someday me and my family will get together again. I hope I can see my friends again, and do the activities we used to do together. I don’t know if this is possible, because now everyone lives somewhere else, has their new lives.
