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INTERVIEWS WITH SYRIAN REFUGEES IN REYHANLI - I<br />
ORSAM<br />
struction materials. I attended the religious<br />
talks in line with my religious knowledge and<br />
gave speeches after work in Latakia and in my<br />
neighborhood. I always preferred performing<br />
prayer with the congregation. The Ba’ath<br />
Party and the party members do not like me,<br />
and neither do I like them.<br />
ORSAM: Could you tell us what you went<br />
through in Syria and the reasons you came to<br />
Turkey?<br />
Nureddin Abdo Hacı Osman abu Kamil: As<br />
one of my children is mentally retarded, I had<br />
to have my child treated. As I did not have any<br />
social security, I had to have my child treated<br />
in state hospital. I wanted my child to be<br />
treated at a young age and to be reintegrated<br />
to the society. However, none of the hospitals<br />
could treat him properly. A private hospital<br />
wanted 30 thousand dollars for the treatment.<br />
Nevertheless, it was not possible for me to<br />
earn/save such amount of money while doing<br />
my job in Syria. Thus, I left my family behind<br />
in the village and went to Lebanon and<br />
worked for two years over there in order to<br />
save that money. I could save only around 15<br />
thousand dollars at the end of two years. And<br />
I asked for help from the mosque congregation<br />
and benefactors to collect the rest of the<br />
required money. I gave 20 thousand dollars<br />
to the hospital that would treat my deaf mute<br />
and mentally retarded child. But they wanted<br />
30 thousand dollars. I talked to the authorities,<br />
told about the situation. However nobody<br />
helped me, because I did not support<br />
the Ba’ath party. During the same period, an<br />
uprising broke out in Syria against the regime<br />
and the Assad family. And I took sides with<br />
the opposition. The members of the Jaish al<br />
Hur (Free Syrian Army) created a base in our<br />
area. I provided them with moral support,<br />
held meetings and preached. One night, our<br />
village and the neighboring villages started<br />
to be bombed by tanks. The houses were destroyed,<br />
people were killed. Lands, vineyards<br />
and orchards were all destroyed. We were<br />
damaged in both material and moral terms.<br />
My brother and relatives also joined the Jaish<br />
al Hur. We fought. But after a while, we could<br />
ORSAM<br />
Report No: 157, May 2013 25
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