The uncertainty of life must stop to move forward.
He welcomed us to his home. Not only opened his door for us but who he is and his thoughts. — Subhi Moazzen
His Story:
The moment I knew we had to leave was when I was leaving the house and all I thought was my family, even if I was coming back home. You cannot imagine how dangerous the situation was. Turkey was my first destination. All the Turkish people I have met in Urfa welcomed us the best way I have ever seen. They were trying their best to satisfy our needs. My kids learned Turkish and some went to universities. Everyone’s Turkish level depends on how much they interacted with the people. My youngest kid sometimes tells me “I don’t know how I can explain this to you in Arabic dad”. He is the one who got used to the lifestyle here the most.
In order to live a anywhere a stable income and conditions are very important. If a fellow Syrian doesn’t find these conditions of stability, which also depends on his status here, they would not know what the future will hold for them. A decision he or she makes today might change tomorrow. His decision is affected by a mistake made not by him but by another Syrian who will be perceived as the stereotype of Syrians. This mistake is also made by regimes. For instance, if the state is is going to combat corrupted employees, it would impose hard conditions on them are also affecting non-corrupted employees. People who make mistakes must be dealt with individually without harming others. This is our issue here. I am residing here and I don’t know what is my situation. My kids and I have residence permits now but 4 years ago we had regular residence permits which were taken away from us, though we have never violated any law or harmed anyone and paid the bills. It is the same case for many other Syrians who are paying the tax of some filthy Syrians sent either by the Syrian regime or organized groups against Turkey to worsen the image of Syrians. This is totally unacceptable. We have relations that must be sustained and regulated by the authorities here by laws that protects both. Every Syrian can feel this issue. I am not saying that all Syrians must have jobs and take the chance of a Turkish citizen, but if he/she gets a job opportunity they must go easy on him because this person has, lost everything and starting from zero. He lost a part of his identity. I am not mentioning a religion or ethnicities because all of us have suffered. The least thing to be given to Syrian is to make him feel settled and not living in the fear of being kicked out from Turkey at any moment. The Syrian regime would benefit from this the most. Turkey opened its arms and took us in and no other country in the world has done as much as Turkey, we are grateful.
Waiting for the decisions of conference either in Geneva, Washington or Moscow is useless because it only benefit regimes. If the Turkish government doesn’t work more toward integrating Syrians in Turkey in the Turkish society and the Turkish citizen to accept the other, Syrians won’t feel settled. Linking the Syrians’ destiny with the Syrian regime’s is what concerns me the most. In general I am comfortable because I have economic security which hundreds of thousands of Syrians lack.
My message is mainly directed to the Turkish government. Syrians left everything they had, their lively hoods, to survive we migrated to Turkey. We are constantly on the edge, in terms of what the future holds for us here. We need to find ways to lift the uncertainty. It really feels similar to home here. The culture is the same and traditions are so similar and it is close to home. Turkey Should keep its doors open and accept more refugees not for political leverage but to aid a humanitarian crisis.
I really urge Turkish people to be more accepting to Syrians who are going through a real crisis because with and without the war we are neighbors and since the borders are connected by land so are we.
