Although Mustafa Shehho Hadji Otman, a teacher graduated from Department of History, wanted to do his job; he had to immigrate as there was no one left from his family and the local people
Mustafa Shehho Hadji Otman: I am from Binnec district of Idlib, Syria. I am 40 years old and father of two children. I am a member of a family in good shape. I graduated from the Department of Arabic Language and History at Aleppo University, and I work as a teacher in Syria.
ORSAM: Could you tell us about your life before the civil war in Syria, what you went through during the civil war and the reasons why you came to Turkey?
Mustafa Shehho Hadji Otman: In Binnec, there are two armies from opposition wing which are Jaish Al-Hur (Free Syrian Army) and Jaish Al-Nasr from Free Syrian Army. These armies generally set their bases in villages and towns of the district. Besides Binnec is also the hometown of Minister of Agriculture who was newly appointed by Bashar Assad, but he is not liked at all due to the fact that he did not react to the bombardment on his hometown. As the people in Bennic and his fellow townsmen, we hate the Minister of Agriculture due to fact that he has not resigned yet albeit he is Sunni.
Our district, which is near the military zone, military troops and airfield, is under the risk of bombardment at any moment. Due to the cluster and barrel bombs dropped at certain hours, even the graveyards are bombed next to settlements. There are holes of 5-6 meters of depth in the graveyards where bones are scattered around. In Syria, Sunni people are tortured and massacred.
Even though some of the highways in the district are controlled by Jaish al-Hur, and some others are controlled by Jaish al-Nasr; they cannot be effective due to the fact that Assad forces have the air supremacy. It is so hard for them to open fire against the Aircrafts and Helicopters through the weapons they have.
The health service has also come to a dead stop. There are only two hospitals in our district, and the medical equipment is so insufficient that they cannot even perform a medical intervention until taking injured to Turkey. Even if people do not die of the bombardment, they die because of the medical insufficiency in hospital, which is full of injured people.
I lost most of my relatives. Tools and equipments of my family were all destroyed, out stores went to wrack and ruin, all our goods were wasted. The school I worked at, and the other schools in the district became completely empty due to the immigration. I could receive my salary as long as I stayed in the district. I do not need the salary given by the government, but I had to escape from the torture and massacre in Syria like others did, as nobody was left in the district despite the fact that I preferred staying to do my job. What else could I have done?
* This interview was made by Feyyat Özyazar in Reyhanlı district of Hatay, on 25 November 2012.
