Macid Salman al Zuhrevi defines Aleppo as the city of “poverty and misery”. He says it is not possible for him to go back to Aleppo under the current circumstances.
ORSAM: Could you tell us about yourself?
Macid Salman al Zuhrevi: I live in Aleppo, Syria. I am 55 years old. I have 3 children. I used to sell wedding dress, and evening gowns in Aleppo grand bazaar. In addition, I had an atelier and 30 employees in the neighborhood. I had my employees tailor these dresses and marketed them to the Middle East countries. I received orders from all Arab countries.
ORSAM: Could you tell us about your life in Syria before the civil war, your experiences during the civil war and what brought you to Turkey?
Macid Salman al Zuhrevi: Due to the fact that trade in Syria came to a stop, that there was no means left to export and nobody in the Middle East countries came to Aleppo anymore led to a stop in my work and my employees left. And I made my living by selling what I had left in the store. I came to Turkey to save my life along with my wife and my children by leaving everything behind due to the fact that the grand bazaar was bombed in the past few months and my store was damaged.
I asked people I know who came from Syria to Turkey after I did, and learned that there was nothing left of my store or anything inside. Those who take advantage of the civil war stole everything. They break into stores and houses, and Aleppo turned into a city of those who plunder everywhere.
I has been a month since we arrived in Turkey, but I still think of Aleppo. Currently Aleppo is a city where garbage heaps almost reached a size of mountain, everywhere stinks, there is almost a constant blackout, and sometimes electricity is provided for certain neighborhoods only for a couple of hours. It is now a city where nobody from the neighboring villages and towns do not come anymore, and where people can't even afford to buy bread. A city which is full of destroyed stores and houses, and where people struggle for their lives in hunger and misery, and where a sack of flour, a bottle of oil, vegetable is longed for, and barely afforded. Under these circumstances, I cannot go back to Aleppo.
I am planning to open a store in Reyhanlı, Hatay, and carry on doing my job here. I talk to friends abroad on the phone and I expect some financial aid, loan from them. If they send me money, I will carry on my business life here. If they don't, I am thinking of doing something through my own means. Currently I have no job, but I can stand on my own feet.
* This interview was made by Feyyat Özyazar in Reyhanlı district of Hatay on 15 January 2013.
