President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), Nasr Al-Hariri, held a virtual meeting with Turkish writers Bekir Berat Özipek and Faik Tanrikulu to thank them for the publication of a book that addresses the issues of Syrian refugees in Turkey and seeks to correct misconceptions about them. Coordinator of the Syrian-Turkish Joint Committee, Ahmed Bakkoura, also participated in the meeting.
Al-Hariri emphasized the strong historical relationship between the Syrian and Turkish peoples as he thanked Turkey for hosting Syrian refugees. He said: “Turkey stood with the Syrian people when everyone left them an easy prey to the murderous regime.”
Al-Hariri pointed to the need to understand the reasons that prompted the Syrian people to leave their homeland, stressing that the presence of Syrian refugees in Turkey is temporary and also a great opportunity to build future relations with a strategic dimension. He said that the majority of Syrian refugees are eager to return to their country after a political solution has been achieved.
Moreover, al-Hariri talked about the Syrian refugees’ success stories in various areas, especially in education aspect and the labor market. He stressed the need to correct misconceptions among the Turkish people about Syrian refugees in Turkey.
He thanked the Turkish activists and intellectuals for their role in dispelling misconceptions about Syrian refugees as he talked about the activities of the SOC’s Department of Refugee Affairs and the Syrian-Turkish Joint Committee.
For his part, writer Tanrikulu talked about the idea behind writing the book, noting that “it was easy for me to feel the difficulties that Syrian refugees in Turkey are facing as I spent a long period outside away from my homeland.”
Özipek talked about the stages of preparing the book, adding that for the past four years they have been seeking to dispel misconceptions about Syrian refugees. He emphasized that the Syrian and Turkish peoples have common culture and history.
The two writers have recently published a book under the title “Immigration in Turkey in the Past and Now’. The book deals with the reasons behind Syrians leaving their countries, the meanings of migration throughout history, and Turkey’s role in receiving refugees from all backgrounds. (Source: SOC’s Media Department)
