REPORT FROM DAMASCUS: IRAQI REFUGEES IN SYRIA SPEAK OUT AGAINST U.S. OCCUPATION
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Aug 21 2007
Italy
Democracy Now!
Over four years of brutal warfare in Iraq has spawned a refugee crisis
of staggering proportions. Two million Iraqis have been forced to leave
their country and are now scattered across Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Iran,
Lebanon, and Turkey. There are an estimated 1.2 million Iraqi refugees
in Syria. This report was filed by Democracy Now correspondent Jen
Utz. [includes rush transcript]
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Over four years of brutal warfare in Iraq has spawned a refugee
crisis of staggering proportions. Two million Iraqis have been forced
to leave their country and are now scattered across Syria, Jordan,
Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, and Turkey.
Another 1.9 million Iraqis have been forced to flee their homes and
join the growing ranks of the internally displaced.
Since 2003, the United States has accepted only 701 Iraqi refugees.
I want to begin this segment on the Iraqi refugee crisis with a short
report on an Iraqi family displaced to Damascus, Syria. There are an
estimated 1.2 million Iraqi refugees in Syria. This report was filed
by Democracy Now correspondent Jen Utz.
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RUSH TRANSCRIPT AMY GOODMAN: Over four years of brutal warfare in Iraq
has spawned a refugee crisis of staggering proportions. Two million
Iraqis have been forced to leave their country and are now scattered
across Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon and Turkey. Another 1.9
million Iraqis have been forced to flee their homes and join the
growing ranks of the internally displaced. Since 2003 the United
States has accepted only 701 Iraqi refugees.
In a moment, we will be joined by journalist Nir Rosen. He has just
returned from Beirut. But first we’ll turn to a segment on Iraqi
refugee crisis with a short report from an Iraqi family displaced in
Damascus, Syria. There are an estimated 1.2 million Iraqi refugees
in Syria. This report was filed from Damascus by Democracy Now!
correspondent Jen Utz.
JEN UTZ: Mohamed is celebrating his fourteenth birthday. His family is
among the 1.4 million Iraqi refugees currently estimated to be living
in Syria. The electricity went out in the middle of the party, as it
often has over the course of the last year and a half that they’ve
been in exile. But life goes on.
With the war entering its fifth year and over four million people
displaced, those who wonder how an American journalist visiting a
family of Iraqi refugees would be treated might be surprised.
Mohamed’s family of five lives in Daf Al-Shawk, a poor neighborhood
of Damascus, where they pay $250 USD per month for this one-bedroom
apartment.
Upon my arrival, Mohamed’s mother Heyfa immediately began preparing
a large meal.
HEYFA: [translated] This is our custom. When a guest comes to our
house, we give them the best we have, no matter what situation we’re
living in.
JEN UTZ: After our meal, the family sang me a traditional song from
their region.
Originally from Basra, Heyfa is Shiite, and her husband Omar is Sunni.
OMAR: [translated] When I went to ask for her hand in marriage,
her parents didn’t ask me what sect I was from. Our neighborhood
was middle class with nice houses and gardens. One of my neighbors
was Christian, another was Armenian, and Sunni and Shia. We shared
everything. We ate together, we celebrated together. We even shared
all religious holidays together.
JEN UTZ: Things changed dramatically after the war, they say, and
Omar bought a Kalashnikov to protect his family. However, they decided
to leave when Heyfa found a warning from the local Shiite militia on
her front door, insisting they leave their home or the entire family
would be killed.
HEYFA: [translated] My husband was at work, and I opened the front
door and I saw this letter. So I kept the kids home from school. I
started to call my neighbors. They tried to calm me down, and then
they took me to the police station. The police read the letter,
and they laughed and said, "We can’t do anything for you."
JEN UTZ: At the time, militia groups were taking over vacated homes,
so Omar paid an armed guard $250 USD a month to keep an eye on their
house. On the day of my visit, Heyfa had just paid $350 USD to enroll
her two eldest children in private school for one year, because public
schools, burdened by the growing number of refugees, are full.
OMAR: [translated] We appreciate that the Syrian government and its
people have been so generous to the huge number of Iraqis.
JEN UTZ: However, Iraqi refugees are forbidden from working in Syria,
and the family’s savings are running out. Plus, they tell me that life
in exile is emotionally crippling, and they have no hope they’ll go
home anytime soon.
OMAR: [translated] Our hope is that the situation will get better
and Iraq will return to the way it was and that everyone can go back
to their homes and their jobs. But this is just hope. We see this
is something impossible, and now we are just hoping to move to any
country just to live our lives.
JEN UTZ: We continued our conversation, and as I was wrapping up the
interview, Omar wanted to ask me a question.
OMAR: [translated] What’s happening in Iraq is because of your
president. He’s the main reason. Most of the Iraqis have been forced
to leave their homes and their families. They have had family members
kidnapped or killed. There is no house in Iraq that doesn’t have a
problem like this. There must be a solution for the Iraqi people. Why
don’t they find a solution?
JEN UTZ: After all they had shared with me, I wanted to give something
back, but I had nothing to say.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
