"Only God knows what will happen": refugees in Turkey speak out

By Turgut Alp Boyraz, Baris Saglam

ANKARA 

“Only God knows what will happen to us.”

So says 58-year-old Abdullah Accan Hadid, just one of an estimated one million refugees and asylum seekers who have found refuge in Turkey, reflecting the country’s reputation for stability in an increasingly troubled region.

However, living in a new and unfamiliar country brings its own challenges as the refugees we interviewed revealed to Anadolu Agency.

Abdullah was speaking to our reporters in the Turkish capital Ankara just two days after arriving from war-torn Syria, where the conflict has displaced 6.5 million people.

Sitting outside a café the former cement factory worker told AA: “We fled to Turkey instead of other neighboring countries because here is safer than elsewhere in the region where we hopefully can find job.”

An increasing number of refugees are seeking job opportunities and planning to settle down in Ankara, Turkey’s capital, where they have found “a safe haven.”

Nationally, the population of refugees and asylum seekers in Turkey has reached to nearly a million last year, 700,000 of them alone from Syria, according to Turkey’s Prime Ministry Disaster & Emergency Management Presidency.

The dramatically increasing number of asylum seekers in Turkey has been attributed to recent wars, repression and persecution in neighboring countries. 

“Only God knows what will happen to us. Maybe we will be compelled to spent rest of our lives in Turkey,” Abdullah tells us.

Despite the relative safety of Turkey, work and accommodation for Abdullah and his family are an issue: “I used to work in a cement factory in Aleppo.  Everything back home is destroyed and we have been forced to leave the city which was exposed to daily bombardment. So, here we are with 15 of us living in a three-bedroom flat.”

Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management figures reveal that 32.8 percent of Syrian refugees in Turkey have had their homes completely destroyed.

Living in a new country with an unfamiliar language brings its own challenges: Abdullah asked our reporter to write down the café’s address in Turkish to make sure that he could find his way back to his apartment.

In recent weeks, more than 500 Syrian refugees have been fleeing to Turkey each day; sometimes this number shoots up to 2,000, according to UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

“Displacement has increased due to a pitched battle between Syrian regime and opposition side,” said Melissa Fleming, a spokesperson for the UNHCR.

Hana Kisteari is a 26-year-old Syrian woman who arrived in Turkey six months ago and is now living in three-bedroom flat with her 14 member family in the outskirts of Ankara.

“I have four children and all of them registered to a school dedicated to Syrian students this week. We are thankful to Turkish government for that.” she says.

Hana’s husband was killed by regime forces 18 months ago in Syria, another casualty of a conflict which has claimed more than 140,000 lives according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“Thank God, we are now safe here in Turkey and my children have chance to continue their study. They are also learning Turkish,” she says.

She says Turkey is safer than any other country in the region and that four people in her family have found work here.

Another refugee from Syria, Maazin Ali, 22, says he walked all the way to Turkey from the Syrian city of Babusselam, near the Turkey-Syria border.

Fleeing the deadly conflict, he now lives in a two-bedroom flat with his parents, wife and two children, in the outskirts of Ankara.

“When we first rented this flat, there was no furniture at all. Our Turkish neighbors here gave us all the furniture for free. We haven’t seen such a good treatment even from our fellow Arabs,” he says.

Ali says his uncle and cousin burned to death in a barrel bomb attack in Aleppo two weeks ago.

“We were seeking a safe place to go and Turkey is safer than any other country in the region. That is why we fled to Turkey rather than other neighboring countries,” Ali says:

“There is no chance for Syria to recover even in 50 years and Turkish people are very welcoming. The neighbors help us out with the bills and rent. They are also looking job for us. The local municipality regularly provides us coal and food.” 

Syrians are not the only people seeking refugee in Turkey. Gaffar Abu Rashid, a 48-year-old Afghan man, has lived in Ankara with his family for two years. He says they were caught up in the war between the Taliban and collation forces, leaving them with no choice but to flee the country.

“I was working as a toiler for International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. The Taliban accused me of helping the occupiers. With the fighting intensified around our town, there was no chance for us to stay any longer,” Rashid explains.

Now living in a three-bedroom flat with his mother, wife and five children, he says: “We are the only Afghan family in this neighborhood but everybody is being good to us. All my children are able to go to school alongside their fellow Turkish friends. Turkey is treating us better than our own country.”

Despite losing his job one month ago, Rashid says he is not nervous about the future.

“I was working in a shop for a 750 Turkish lira salary. I lost the job a month ago but hopefully will find a new one,” he says.

Rashid’s eight-year-old daughter Sheyma who was wounded in a rocket attack in Kabul, the Afghan capital, needs permanent health treatment.

“My youngest daughter is in need of regular health treatment. I think she needs a surgical operation to recover for good but the doctors wouldn’t agree,” the 48-year-old father complained.

Although Turkey is fulfilling its obligations as a safe haven for those fleeing regional conflict, for some, reaching safety is only the start of a long struggle for stability.

englishnews@aa.com.tr