Zeynep Akın/JINHA

ÊLIH - Yusra Ali Xelef had to migrate from Syria where she was teacher, to Batman due to civil war. Yusra is fighting for her life by cooking gozleme in her store.

Yusra Ali Xelef lived in the Damascus city of Syria as teacher. She had to migrate to the Batman city of North Kurdistan two years ago. She told the difficulities she faced after migration to our agency. Yusra said that they had many difficulties the first year in Batman. "We couldn't earn our keep when we moved to Batman. I miss my home and lands in Damascus. We had everything there. We had to leave there. I didn't go out the first days when we moved to Batman. I didn't know anyone in this city. Someday, one of our neighbors brought a sack of flour to me. I was surprised. I hadn't cooked break before. Our neighbor told me, "I'll cook bread for you." I learned how I can cook when she cooked bread for us. The bread was expensive, we couldn't buy it. I began to cook the bread in the tandouri.

I speak in five languages and I was teacher in Syria. I couldn't do my job here. Someday, our houseowner asked me, "You are an educated woman, why don't you work? I hadn't worked in another job except teaching in Syria. I began to work as worker in a gozleme store. I worked for 10 lira per day. I took over the store after I worked there for 14 months. I am working now. The money I earn is enough for us. Working is better to stay at home without doing anything."

Yusra said that they had difficult times in Syria due to the war. "I saved my childrenfrom death three times in Syria. Then, we have taken refuge in Batman. Our culture and tradition can be different, but being excluded is more difficult. We had house and lands in Syria. I didn't come here to rest. I came here to live. We work in this city. We aren't expecting any help from any people. My children are badly affected. The children in school tell my children, "You are from Syria, you are victim."

"My husband is working as chef. He receives less salary than other chefs. The people in Batman say, "Syrian people don't leave any job for us." We have to work, what can we do if we don't work? We receive less salary than other people. We can only pay our house rent with this salary."

Yusra stated that Syrian people live in the cities of Kurdistan. "The people, who live in Nusaybin and Cizre, have experienced what we did. 20- Storey building was bombed and demolished. When we tried to burn our loved one, they opened fire on us in Damascus. They killed the people. Speaking Kurdish was banned in both Syria and Turkey a few years ago. Children, who spoke in Kurdish in schools, were oppressed. They changed our Kurdish names into Arabic forcibly. We have to resist together against this dictatorship. We cannot join our hands with each other as Kurdish people. We can be successful if we act together."

(mg/gd)