Sabiha Khalil from Syrian Women’s Network (SKA) argued that a political solution should be found out for the problems of Syrian refugees. “Many ameliorations can be made for refugees but not a paradise can be created fro them. Wherever you go, your home is always the best,” she said.
Khalil emphasized that women are always those who suffer from the war to the largest extent and “unless war is over, the miseries will not go away. Therefore, women trafficking and forced marriages (also at early age) are problems that Syrian women still face often,” she added.
Feminist activist Khalil left Syrian two years ago and arrived in Turkey. She has been living in Germany for three months. “When the rebellions started, I had never thought that we would have to leave the country one day and we maintained our ordinary lives for a long time,” she stated. “What we forced to leave the country was the gunfights. I have nothing to do with the guns. People like me couldn’t bear this situation,” she also asserted.
Syrian Women’s Network founded after rebellions
SKA gather many women organizations under its roof and and lobbies for Syrian women’s problems.
Khalil said that SKA was founded after rebellions broke out:
“The Arab Spring proved that some things are not impossible in the Middle East. When a political power changed, it also enables women movement to progress. If women movement doesn’t mobilize at that time, it retrogresses.
“Women couldn’t get involved in decision-making processes or gained political representation in Tunisia and Egypt. We thought that Syrian women might experience it as well. Therefore, women should lobby in national and international platforms. SKA has lobbied for two years.”
Forced marriages persist
Khalil attended the protests which Muslims Initiative Against Violence Against Women organized in January for protesting women trafficking and forced marriages.
Having stated that the problem still persists, Khalil reminded that the solution is not so simple: “Currently people just try to meet their basic needs. That’s why, we cannot even bring up this subject. When you ask a man why he forces his daughter to marriage, he says that he has neither money to feed his children, nor gun to protect them. He thinks that he could get rid of one of his responsibilities in this way. It’s not fair for sure. But, nobody cares about these people and the circumstances of Syrian refugees worsen day by day.”
“No other choice from being a refugee”
Khalil stated that discrimination and attacks against Syrian refugees increase throughout countries in the Middle East.
“I left Turkey three months ago. When I was there, rape cases against Syrians didn’t occur frequently. In the meanwhile, tensions between Turks and Syrians weren’t that harsh.
“People in Turkey should behave in a reasonable way. Refugees didn’t come immigrate here arbitrarily. They departed to Turkey because they escaped from the war. Unfortunately, there is discrimination also in neighboring countries in the Middle East,” she said.
“Fundamentalist are the problem of international community”
Khalil stated that tensions resulted from a long lasting conflict and in her opinion, long lasting conflict is the outcome of the silence of international community.
“If the conflict didn’t last so long, we wouldn’t have had these problems. Maybe the international community waits for the perishing of Syrians because for them there is a bigger problem than Syrians’ survival, which is fundamentalists. It’s not fair at all, but we address them: Unless you don’t support secular and moderate representatives, fundamentalists will continue to exist in Syria because this regime has already welcomed the fundamentalists.
“ISIS didn’t suddenly appear. They have been already active in Syria. Right after the revolution, regime released and instructed them to keep on doing what they were doing at that time. Then, their name wasn’t ISIS; however, they were doing the same what they do today.”
“Secterianism didn’t appear suddenly in Syria”
“For example, sectarianism in Syria didn’t appear suddenly. It was in sleep and when it woke up, it actually woke up everywhere. Attacks and discriminatory practices in Turkey are a reflection of the sectarianism.
“It’s not fair to leave Syrians to their fate, to leave them alone in the middle of the clashes, to let them to kill each other, and not to care about them. If there is a fire at your neighbor’s home, it may burn your home as well.
“Solving Syria problem is not important only for Syrians’ sake but also for stability in the Middle East. I repeat it again: If we don’t cease what happens in Syria, it may affect Turkey in the feature just as it affected Lebanon and Iraq before.” (ÇT/MUY/BM)
* Click here to read the article in Turkish.
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