Discussion on Syrian Refugee Experiences

For more, Sarah Khamis joins me. Good evening.

Welcome.

Good evening. Hello.

I want to ask, what prompted you to respond this way

and tell these truths to the journalist, instead of

just staying silent, I mean, not responding in this manner?

I mean, this is the natural thing that any Palestinian would say, or

any Arab, or even any Muslim.

Um, there was no reason for me to stay silent or

be pleased when he told me, "We love Palestinians, but not those who flee,

the Syrians." How did they flee, or how did he see that Syrians

are fleeing and happy, not caring about the situation

in their country, without seeing the other side, which is

the... the reality the Syrian people lived through.

Mm-hmm.

And what was your reaction after you saw this

clip go viral and seen by

maybe hundreds of thousands or millions of followers?

Honestly, I didn't expect this person

to post it at all, because midway through the interview I left and walked away,

so I thought he'd feel embarrassed and wouldn't post it since I walked out on him.

And I left. But I was really shocked when they sent it to me,

my friends, that is. It had already gotten a lot of views

because I don't follow social media that much either.

I was also shocked by the reaction, that people

liked it, were shocked, and praised it, because this should be normal.

I've never seen otherwise, even if he tried

to bring it up deceitfully or quickly without me noticing.

Thank God his Turkish was enough for me to understand what he said about

others. Maybe if I hadn't understood that,

I would've continued without understanding and been pleased with his words.

So I want to tell the world that this is normal, and this is the view of

the world, the entire Palestinian people, or the whole Islamic world, and that we all

love you, we all stand with you, and we know what you've been through.

Mhm. And do you think the experience of the Palestinian people

made you better able to understand what Syrians have suffered

over all these long years?

Yes, there's a part of that, and also, I mean, Muslims

All of us—I mean, I studied here in Turkey and there were many

Palesti— people, other Arabs, or Muslims,

and we all share the same feelings for our Syrian brothers and sisters.

And may God bless them, the Union of Syrian Students in Turkey

did their best to raise awareness, bringing in Syrian prisoners

who had been in the prisons of...

of the criminal Assad, so we had a lot of awareness,

especially at universities, seeing up close what

the prisoners were going through and what the people lived through.

So this isn't just my opinion, it's the opinion of everyone

that I saw.

Mm. If you could go back in time to the moment of the interview,

were there perhaps other things you wanted

to say at that moment?

Definitely. If I could go back in time, honestly, I would say more.

I would explain more. But I didn't have...

enough time. I would explain more to him about...

the situation in Syria, and I would explain to him

that what Syrians did isn't called running away, it's seeking asylum.

And when they sought refuge, there was a reason. They left and became doctors and became

engineers. Even, uh, Mr. Shibani, who is, uh,

the Foreign Minister of Turkey, actually, uh, Syria—Syria, he originally

uh, studied, that is, in Turkey; he was even at the same university where I

was. So they left, uh, and made something of themselves,

grew up, got prepared, and came back and built a government and a state

64: anew from scratch after what used to be the corrupt previous government.

So this isn't called fleeing, this is called seeking refuge. And, uh, they...

the fighters who are able to fight remained in... in... in Syria.

On the contrary, the situation now, God willing, is better than before.

Yes. And what was the journalist's reaction after

you confronted him with this information and facts? Did you notice on

his face that he was surprised? What were your main observations

from the journalist's reaction?

I mean, his reaction was malicious like his question, honestly. I didn't feel

that, uh, he was surprised or upset or anything.

His face—his face was laughing, because basically he doesn't care about

Palestine, nor does he care about Gaza, nor Syria, nor does he care, even maybe,

Turkey. Um, his question honestly shocked me, because

I, um, might have known this guy from before. I used to

watch him. He used to ask religious questions, like what we've memorized

from the Quran, or the number of verses, or something like that.

So when he asked this question, honestly, neither he nor

I expected, um, each other's answers.

Mm. And did you expect a short

and expressive response from you, with facts and information, to turn into, um,

a matter of public opinion?

Not at all. Even now, I'm shocked and surprised. Why

all these reactions? Because this is the natural thing that should happen.

I mean, I'm surprised why people now see this as such a big deal.

Even now, I say there's no reason for this to spread like this.

We all know the issue, and all of us, if we were in this situation, would give the same

answer. Um, I'm really surprised, honestly, and the

messages I receive and the—and what I see on the

comments shock me even more. But I feel happy when I see

how we are, like, one nation. Even among the Turkish people,

most of them, um, understand the situation in Syria and defend...

Syria. And most of their reactions were normal and positive.

Yes, thank you so much for these clarifications

and for stating the facts, and we wish you all

the best. Sarah Khamis, thank you very much.

Thank you. Take care.