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INTERVIEWS WITH SYRIAN REFUGEES IN REYHANLI - I<br />
ORSAM<br />
Owner of a touristic restaurant, Jamal Nasser<br />
al Sarhani says that “in such an environment<br />
where everybody fights for his/her own life,<br />
there was no more helping each other or humanitarian<br />
emotions and people started to<br />
hide even a piece of dry bread”.<br />
ORSAM: Could you tell us about yourself in<br />
brief?<br />
Jamal Nasser al Sarhani abu Kamil: I lived<br />
in Masharka neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria.<br />
I am 52 years old. I owned a touristic restaurant.<br />
ORSAM: Could you tell us about your life in<br />
Syria before the civil war, your experiences<br />
during the civil war and what brought you to<br />
Turkey?<br />
Jamal Nasser al Sarhani abu Kamil: I had a<br />
large restaurant in the neighborhood of Citadel<br />
of Aleppo, and it was known as the most<br />
luxurious restaurant and narghile café of the<br />
neighborhood. I served in this sector with my<br />
6 employees for years. Before the outbreak of<br />
the civil war, it was a popular place where the<br />
jet set of Aleppo came. It was popular with<br />
all kinds of Arab and Middle East dishes, kebab<br />
and a variety of appetizers. Like other areas<br />
in the region, this neighborhood was also<br />
bombed following the outbreak of the civil<br />
war, highways were blocked, electricity and<br />
water was cut, so I had to leave my restaurant.<br />
People had no chance to hang out with other<br />
people anymore, and besides they did not<br />
have time or could not afford to go to a restaurant<br />
or narghile café either. Many rich<br />
people migrated, and only poor and low income<br />
people did not leave the region. The<br />
infrastructure of Aleppo was completely destroyed<br />
due to bombardments, nobody came<br />
from neighboring provinces to Aleppo, there<br />
was no such thing as a trade life anymore, no<br />
vegetable, fruit, or even dry food could be<br />
brought to Aleppo. In such an environment,<br />
nobody came to my restaurant and people<br />
could not even live in their homes anymore.<br />
I witnessed some bombardments, houses<br />
were destroyed, stores were damaged and<br />
plundered. In such an environment where everybody<br />
fights for his/her own life, there was<br />
no more helping each other or humanitarian<br />
emotions and people started to hide even a<br />
piece of dry bread. Those who had flour, rice<br />
or any other food product at home did not<br />
give them to anyone else. On cold days, hundreds<br />
of families lived a prison life in ruins<br />
without heater, under blankets.<br />
I had to migrate to get rid of such an environment,<br />
and I am still in Turkey. I have no job<br />
here, but I will work if I can find a job.<br />
* This interview was made by Feyyat Özyazar<br />
in Reyhanlı district of Hatay on 15 January<br />
2013.<br />
An Interview with Vasfi Hussein al Bagari<br />
abu Nahsen who came from Syria to Turkey<br />
and settled in Reyhanlı district of Hatay<br />
Vasfi Hussein al Bagari, who sold spare parts<br />
and agricultural irrigation equipments, states<br />
that; “Some people in our area do not migrate,<br />
put up with pressure, problems, pains; some<br />
of them cannot leave their properties; some<br />
others cannot risk their salaries and income<br />
by leaving to migrate”.<br />
ORSAM: Could you tell us about yourself?<br />
Vasfi Hussein al Bagari abu Nahsen: I lived<br />
in Al Bab district of Aleppo, Syria. I am 47<br />
years old, and a father of 3 children. I sold<br />
tyre, spare parts and agricultural irrigation<br />
equipments.<br />
ORSAM<br />
Report No: 157, May 2013 73
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