Demotix/Sahan Nuhoglu. All rights reserved.
Words define reality; they are the means by which we interpret our experiences and perceive our surroundings. This became especially clear to me this past year, when I spent six months living with a group of young Syrians in the chaos of Istanbul. Though I also visited and worked on the Syrian border in the Turkish cities of Suruc, Hatay, and Reyhanli, it was truly the time spent within the crowded and lively Şişli apartment that taught me the most about the weight of the word ‘refugee.’
A label is a defining factor of what opportunities are allotted to a person, and of the box that society forces them within—and the initial judgment placed on their entire being. Those I knew did not fit the media image of ‘refugee’; rather they were complex as we all are.
