Dünya’s ordeal

Dünya Şıreki is 32. She used to work as a nurse in Syria’s city of Latakia. She was detained in 2012 for having treated members of the opposition in the hospital where she worked. She spent three months in prison along with a large number of the hospital staff. On being released, she came to Turkey to avoid being detained again. She has lost most of her relatives in the war. She found shelter along with her husband and two children in the tent city in Hatay. Şıreki could not cope with ‘tent life’ and crossed back over the border. She worked for three years at a hospital near the border where opposition members were treated.

When the war flared up and the bombs started to fall, she set out for Istanbul. She is now working as a nurse at a clinic staffed by Syrians in Fatih. She spends the money she earns on rent, bills and fares. She has long since abandoned hope of returning home. She has applied to go to Canada. She is waiting for a reply. Şıreki wants Syrian women in Turkey not to be given a hard time. She says, ‘We had a wonderful life in Syria. In Syria there are very few educated women. My friends would say, “Let’s go on a trip to Istanbul one day,” but I wanted to go to Lebanon and Jordan far more. I was left with no choice but to come to Istanbul. We have had and still have a lot of difficulties. People judge us without understanding and listening. I and we have our stories, our lives. I am lucky because I know a little Turkish. Please let’s not see Syrian women being looked at negatively. We, too, want to live decent lives her. I retain no hope of the war ending and going home. If I’m accepted, I’ll settle in Canada.’ As to life in the tent city, she has the following to say: ‘My psychological condition got even worse in the tent city. Entry and exit was with a card. It was forbidden to enter after six in the evening.’

Dünya’nın yükü