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Notes from the 'New Syria' on the other side of the border

I visited the town of Al-Bab, northeast of Aleppo, a day before anti-Turkish demonstrations erupted last week. This is my third visit to the city of Al-Bab over the past years.

The city of Al-Bab was under the control of the terrorist ISIS and was the launching pad for many terrorist attacks against Türkiye, but the Turkish Armed Forces took control of the city on February 24, 2017, as part of Operation Euphrates Shield.


After that, the Free Syrian Army took over the provision of security in the city, while the local council of the city of Al-Bab is the one who manages the governmental and organizational affairs.

My wife and colleague Nuriye Cakmak Celik and I visited Al-Bab for a training seminar that had been planned for months and spent the whole day there.

At that time, we received an invitation from the Turkish "Bülbülzade" Foundation. During the afternoon hours, we met with Syrian youth at the Anatolia Cultural Center in the city of Al-Bab and had a conversation with them.

For many years, the people of the region and Türkiye will see the impact and benefit of the training and self-development activities carried out by the Anatolian Cultural Center in the city of Al-Bab.


The Bülbülzade Foundation, through its humanitarian aid activities, focused on education and culture and raised them to a standard for the whole world.


We attended some lessons at the cultural center. There we saw elderly Syrian women (over 60 years old) taking literacy classes and learning to read and write in Arabic.


When we asked why women of this particular age were taking literacy lessons, their response was: "It's not too late for us."

I asked the management of the cultural center about the reason for their dedication to this goal, and they replied: "They are now living a stable life here, so there is production and development in the region, and they live the life they want, holding on to hope."

There was a growing demand for literacy and the teaching of reading and writing in Arabic. This is the biggest evidence that Türkiye is not implementing a policy of "cultural assimilation" in this region. On the contrary, it is making intensive efforts to enable Syrian children and youth to preserve their Syrian identity.

The topic of our dialogue with some groups that consisted of women and children revolved around the impact of news and misinformation on social media.

After that, we headed to the city of Gaziantep, and attended an evening dialogue seminar entitled "Ways of Coexistence and Our Common Future", where many Syrian opinion leaders were present. During the presentation, my wife and I gave a speech that included some discussions and dialogues.

The topic of our dialogue in the symposium was "Social Media and Communication". Within two and a half hours, we tried to cover and address this issue accurately and communicate it to the Syrian side, and for our part, that dialogue seminar was very fruitful and effective.

Seminar in Gaziantep

Later, we learned that Syrian opinion leaders were satisfied with that dialogue seminar, and as a result of that dialogue, they decided to start training workers in the field of communication and media.

During our meetings with Syrian youth in the city of al-Bab and Syrian opinion leaders in Gaziantep, there were things that caught our attention, as it seemed as if the safe area was equipped to intervene through an authority or structures, or that there was a pivot or a state...etc.

Various terms and rhetoric have been created with the aim of drawing the Syrians into an anti-Turkish line. In fact, we felt the events that took place in northern Syria one day ago. Because the questions asked by the Syrian youth in the city of al-Bab revolved around the following: "It is said that Türkiye will give up these areas and hand them over to Assad. Will such a thing happen?"

We must understand those concerns and reservations. And we all do not even want to think about going back to the starting point, in other words, the possibility of falling into the hands of the Assad regime.

In our turn, as journalists, we gave answers and explanations about that, and I said at the time:

"The government can hold some talks, but from a security or strategic point of view, it does not make sense for Türkiye to give up the safe zone under its control and hand it over to the Syrian regime."

What is the source of those fears and anxiety they have? Of course, social media as might be expected.


While we dug deeper, we noticed that the anti-Turkish posts on Facebook were circulating in WhatsApp groups, but their main source is not clear.


Therefore, residents of these areas face these fears and get nervous while reading these publications. This always happens.


Some of the people I spoke to indicated that the PKK/YPG terrorist organization has long been working to intimidate people through social media. Other sources also indicated that these games are woven by Iranian-backed organizations.


Indeed, the Syrian National Army arrested the instigators who attacked the Turkish flag within a short period, and it turned out that all of them were linked to the YPG terrorist organization.


I want to focus on an important point that must be implemented on the other side of the border, which is to carry out extensive communication activities in addition to the security, intelligence, political and economic activities that are taking place there. There will be many needs to implement this step.


We saw the problems that occurred in the city of al-Bab, and they were pointed out before they occurred by the Syrian opinion leaders with whom we met.


I certainly have many messages and notes that I will try to pass on from time to time.


The safe area has become more dense and urban, so we can say that this area has become a magnet for reverse migration.


The industrial zone that was built at the entrance to the city of Al-Bab is nearing completion, and the hopes and expectations placed around it are very high. Also, social life there began to stabilize.


Today, a "new Syria" is taking shape with its economy and administration in the area under the control of Türkiye, separating the areas of the Syrian regime and the Turkish border.

#Türkiye
#Syria
#Al-Bab
#Seminar
#Rhetoric
#PKK/YPG
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