What I Saw
Where an Influx of Syrians Is Remaking Turkey
By ANNE BARNARD JUNE 16, 2017
These Syrians — intent on fleeing a long and violent war — were being smuggled across the border into southern Turkey in May.
Turkey built this concrete wall to try to stop the flow of refugees and cut off its connection to the war on the other side.
I visited this place to see how some of the three million refugees in Turkey are remaking the region.
In Reyhanli, whole neighborhoods have been built for the Syrians who began arriving in 2011. They call this “new Reyhanli.”
Syrians are quietly settling in, opening charities and schools and shops.
I met a boy named Mohammad Ramadan who showed me a pinball machine he made with electronic and cardboard parts.
He does not talk much about Syria anymore, but he has not forgotten it. He is focused on his new life here.
Life seems to be getting back to normal. But under the surface, the war ripples on. Nearly every family has someone who has disappeared, been tortured, is fighting or has died.
Next, I traveled to Gaziantep, a sister city to Aleppo, the largest city in Syria. If you squint, it feels like Aleppo before the war, swaths of which have now been turned to rubble.
After two years, one of the border crossings here has reopened temporarily so families may visit during Ramadan.
The restless war economy has moved to Gaziantep. The agitated bustle has become something more like exhaustion and worry about the future.
Most refugees I met opposed Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad. But almost all of them believe the rebellion against him has failed.
Along the way, meeting Syrian contacts old and new, I was struck by their sense of suspended animation.
It will be years, they say, before they can be safe across the border.
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