Turkey opened its border to more than 3 million Syrian refugees who fled the civil war and the now-ousted Assad regime. DW spoke with some people who have made Istanbul their home, who are both optimistic and anxious about returning to Syria.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00For Ali Swadi, a Syrian engineer, it is just the best moment ever.
00:07Our dreams have come true, thank God.
00:12For 15 years we have been waiting for this day.
00:16We have been very patient. It was very difficult.
00:20We suffered. We became refugees.
00:25Our state, our country was ruined.
00:30Words can't express how happy I am.
00:35Sentiments shared by so many with whom we spoke.
00:39Refugees, ready to go back to Syria.
00:42We are capable of returning to our country and rebuilding it,
00:46making it better than it was before.
00:48We were subjected to Assad's oppression and many hardships,
00:52but thank God we survived. We were allowed to live in Turkey.
01:00Many here have reactivated long-dormant plans to leave.
01:04Farouk Nekar's mobile phone shop conveniently sells luggage too.
01:09Of course we want to leave in a month or two.
01:11We're already slowly emptying our shop,
01:13so we're getting rid of everything slowly, and then I'll go.
01:17We have our land, our house there.
01:20Our house is ruined. Our factory is also ruined.
01:23But I will start from scratch.
01:25I came here with $100, and I'm going to leave with $1,000.
01:29But it's the same. I came here with nothing.
01:32I'm going back there with nothing.
01:36Yusuf Ahmed hopes for the best of two worlds for his two children,
01:41dividing time between his native homeland and his adopted homeland.
01:47God willing, of course we are planning to return, but not just yet.
01:52We have to wait. The war is continuing.
01:56There is not a complete government in place, so I'm not going back at this moment.
02:01I'll wait for at least six months or even a year.
02:04If I go, I'll set up a business there, but I will also stay with my work here.
02:11Beyond the practical, there are the emotional issues in play
02:15for so many Syrian refugees living in Turkey who are considering a return home.
02:24We Syrians want to return, but there's another part of us that wants to stay.
02:30We have become like family here and built bonds with other people.
02:36Many Turkish women married Syrian men, and many Syrian men married Turkish women.
02:43We are living together in peace, thank God.
02:48This is the spot where many Syrian refugees expect to cross back into their homeland.
02:53One thing they'll have to consider before that moment,
02:56the fact that most will lose their temporary protection status in Turkey
03:00once they step over the border.