Returnees to Serekaniye: “We're very happy”

Today, around 400 families displaced from Serekaniye left Washokani Camp as part of the first group heading toward the city and its villages, after seven years of displacement and hardship in the camps. Their return marks the beginning of a new phase of returning home, amid hopes of opening a new chapter centered on stability and return.

In this context, ANHA agency spoke with several returning families to capture their feelings and aspirations as they approached their city and the homes they had been forced to leave following the Turkish occupation of the city.

Mohammad Hussein al-Ali, a displaced man, said their happiness was indescribable. He added that, “we have a young daughter who did not sleep all night because she was so happy to be returning home. Returning was our dream. We endured great hardship, but today we will return, rebuild our homes and live our lives as we did before.”

For her part, displaced woman Fatima Amin Sharif expressed her longing to see her home and city again, adding that they had suffered greatly during the years of displacement and that their children had been scattered away from their homeland.

She described her joy at returning, saying, “We are very happy. If I had wings, I would fly from happiness.”

She noted that their home had been destroyed over the past years, but said this would not prevent them from returning to their homeland.

The return of the first group of displaced Serekaniye residents comes after years of waiting, amid hopes that this step will pave the way for more displaced people to return to their city and villages and rebuild their lives.

A-H

ANHA