dupuy_46-47.qxp_Special Report 2/3/21 5:30 PM Page 46
Special Report
Ibrahims on the Road: Encounters with Syrian Refugees in Turkey By Lisa Dupuy, Photos By Daniel Maissan
Ibrahim Yan Aslan, 50, shows us how fighter planes fly over Kilis, in southern Turkey, into Syria. “I REMEMBER THE PLANES flying over. I could almost feel the engines, as if the sound trembled through the fields,” Ibrahim Yan Aslan, 50, said. “It made us feel badly for the people over there.” Aslan did not need to point very far from his farmland to indicate the Syrian border. He is a farmer in the backlands of Kilis, in southern Turkey. As the war rages in Syria, Ibrahim said his customers moved away and his income has plummeted. Millions of refugees have fled to Kilis, and Ibrahim said he hired some as farm hands because, “you know, they lighten the work. And to support them, as well. Generally speaking, every person has good intentions, whether they’re Syrians or Turks.” Traditionally, Kilis is the classical border town, facilitating the transport of goods and people alike. In recent years, it has seen refugees
Lisa Dupuy is a freelance journalist based in the Netherlands. She writes daily news and is interested in how conflict shapes people, places and culture. Daniel Maissan is a freelance photographer, also based in the Netherlands. He works for NGOs and foundations. His focus lies in capturing people and their stories. Lisa Dupuy and Daniel Maissan received a working grant from the Dutch Foundation BJP for this autonomous project. 46
pass one way, and Turkish troops and their equipment, in large quantities, the other. The war in Syria has brought to Kilis humanitarians, victims and profiteers. The city itself has swelled with new arrivals looking for refuge at several points in the conflict’s timeline. It is the same in other cities in southern Turkey, like Antakya and Reyhanli. I visited these places last October, on a reporting trip with photographer Daniel Maissan. We wandered through this region which has seen an enormous influx of refugees, 3.5 million, since the civil war in Syria started in 2011. Speaking to some refugees, I got the sense of a community that exists in the cities’ undergrowth, a collective shadow living in this border region. The refugees have their own cultural centers, economy and social structures that are self-managed by online communities. We spoke to the man who oversees a “Syrians in Kilis” Facebook page, with tens of thousands of members. It’s full of stories of furniture swaps, dental and educational referrals and charity requests. The site functions like a coping mechanism, a way for individuals to continue to exist, even for those who have endured a lot. Let me tell you about Ibrahim. I’m not referring solely to the farmer who showed us his fields, but to several Ibrahims; men and boys of
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
MARCH/APRIL 2021
