Former accountant turned soldier recalls memories of a Syria before the civil war.
Wassim dreams of life before the war. A 30-year-old finance major
turned foot soldier in Syria's civil war, Wassim once fought to topple
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, "dreaming of a million opportunities
for a new Syria."
But the former fighter in the opposition Free Syrian Army was
forced to flee Syria six months ago, when fighters of the Islamic State
routed his unit in the eastern Syrian city of Deir al Zor.
"These days, I dream of what we had before this
terribleness began," said the stocky, soft-spoken Wassim, who now lives
in a sparsely furnished apartment in central Istanbul.
The first tremors of revolt shook first Syria four years ago this
month, when mass street demonstrators erupted against Assad's rule. The
conflict has since morphed into a sectarian war with heavy foreign
involvement, costing more than 220,000 lives, the UN estimates.
all it an anniversary if you like, but the war today is not the
same war as in 2011," said Wassim, who asked that his last name be
withheld. "Today, the Islamic State has draped its flag over the
revolution. Now the color of resistance is black."
Sitting in the courtyard of a 15th-century tomb one mild winter
afternoon in Istanbul, Wassim recalled the early days of the conflict,
when he served in Syria's national army, passing along intelligence to
Syria's lightly equipped rebels.
The contours of that conflict were vastly different from Syria's
war today. As armed resistance to Assad grew in early 2012, the United
States talked openly of regime change, anticipating Assad's downfall.
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Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then Turkey's prime minister and now its
president, suggested that Turkey's military might establish a buffer
zone across northern Syria, if the number of refugees on Turkish soil
surpassed a "psychological limit"of 100,000.
"I thought, 'the world won't ignore our struggle'," said Wassim. "I was wrong."
A US-led coalition launches daily airstrikes on Syrian territory,
but it is targeting ISIL fighters, not the Assad regime. The number of
Syrian refugees on Turkish soil has surpassed 1.6 million, but Ankara has long shelved plans for a military incursion into Syria.
On the streets of Istanbul, nearly 300,000 Syrians now seek employment, food and shelter, according to Amnesty International.
"If you spend one day in Istanbul, you'll see how our war is no
longer in Syria. Our war is one of survival here," said Sasha al-Aloul, a
Syrian journalist who moved from Damascus to Istanbul eight months ago.
The city's historical peninsula, where he and Wassim share a small,
two bedroom apartment, maps out the suffering of Syria's refugees, says
al Aloul.
In contrast to Wassim and al Aloul's comparative affluence,
destitute refugee families huddle in the shells of half-demolished
buildings in the nearby district of Süleymaniye, tarps stretched over broken windows against the rain and snow.
A short bus ride in the opposite direction is the Aksaray district,
where crowds of Syrians hand over their savings to smugglers, hoping to
secure a perilous sea journey to Greece and Italy.
"More than anything else, Syrians cried for dignity when they rose
up in 2011," said Aloul. "Looking at Istanbul, I see more disparity,
less dignity than ever."
Wassim looks hopefully towards a group of Syrians who have thrived
in Istanbul, opening radio stations, restaurant chains, and export
firms. In late 2014, the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce announced that 860
Syrians businesses were registered in the city. Half, it said, had been
registered in 2014.
The former combatant hopes to join that new wave, highlighting his finance degree in his search for an accounting job.
From the first day, we have called our uprising a revolution. But an
uprising needs an ideology and clear leadership to become a revolution. I
am disgusted to say this, but the only people who have these things are
the Islamists. |
Late last year, Ankara granted Syrians the right to legally seek
work in Turkey. Syrians can also apply for a seat in Turkey's public
universities without taking the arduous entrance exams that Turkish
nationals must pass.
But language barriers remain, and Turkey's national unemployment
figures has climbed into the double digits since the start of 2015.
Still, Wassim dismisses the idea of travelling to Europe, and fears returning to Syria.
In early 2013, he defected from the Syrian military, joining a the Free Syrian Army militia in his hometown of Deir al Zor.
In August of that year, a gas attack believed to have been carried
out by the Syrian regime killed hundreds of civilians in the Damascus
suburb of Ghouta. Wassim believes that Western countries' decision to
not intervene after the chemical attack gave additional momentum to
armed groups. Shortly afterwards, Wassim's brigade pledged support for
the better-equipped Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria.
In 2014, Al Nusra was routed by ISIL fighters, which turned on Deir
al Zor after its sweeping advance across northern Iraq earlier in the
summer.
Wassim said he was imprisoned by ISIL, and claims to have been
tortured while in captivity. His wife, Zaynab, later secured his release
through an Iraqi relative, who recently joined ISIL.
"Would our daughter never even remember her father's face? I was
haunted by this idea for weeks," said Zaynab, who spoke over Skype from
the Turkish city of Gaziantep, where she and the couple's daughter
currently reside.
Pacing the narrow confines of his kitchen one recent evening,
Wassim doubted that Syria's opposition could regain its formerly
moderate spirit after the rise of the Islamic State"From
the first day, we have called our uprising a revolution. But an
uprising needs an ideology and clear leadership to become a revolution. I
am disgusted to say this, but the only people who have these things are
the Islamists," he said.
Without a side to support in Syria, the former fighter turned back
to the more urgent questions of Istanbul's cash-starved Syrians.
Conceding that armed revolution isn't ideal job experience for an
aspiring accountant, he nonetheless voiced optimism about his
job prospects. "After this last year of my life", he said, "I think I
can survive what comes next".
Source: Al Jazeera
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