Programme Erasmus + Europe on the move : Migration Biographies Theses
2.2.1 . Life in Syria
The family Haddad 113 consisted of the father ; Arman 114 , the mother ; Nesrin 115 , their daughters ; Samira 116 and Aleyna 117 and the sons ; Tarik 118 and Hasan 119 . All of the children were born in Syria , with the exception of Hasan , who was born in Germany . In Syria , they lived in Al-Hasaka ; a city close to the Turkish border . This region is known for its many Kurdish inhabitants , like family Haddad . There , they lived together with Nesrin ’ s parents in two adjacent houses . The father ; Arman , ran a small but successful tiler store as well as a tiler business . They were able to live a good life and were regarded as middle class . It was possible for the children to go to school and learn new things . The older girl , Samira , went to school for three years and the younger sister , Aleyna , only for two years before they had to flee . 120
2.2.2 . Reasons for their escape
Following the beginning of the civil war and increasing threat of IS , many Syrians began fearing for their lives and the lives of their family and friends . The family Haddad faced the same fear as the threat from IS became increasingly apparent . The final trigger for their escape was when a friend told the family about a story regarding IS . At this point IS had started to affect their friends .
Nesrin mentioned the story of a friend that convinced them to leave Syria . IS began kidnapping children often as they returned home . After the kidnapping , the families would receive a ransom , which would usually be a very high sum . IS claimed the families would get their children back as soon as they paid the ransom . However , due to the high price , many parents or families could not pay the amount of money , lacking the finances . The letter also included the threat that if IS did not receive the requested amount of money before a deadline , their children would be killed by IS . A friend of the Haddad family had that happen to her . The friend ’ s grandchildren were kidnapped on their way back home from school . The grandmother who was in charge of the care of her grandchildren , received a letter demanding that she pay many thousands of euros 121 to IS . She could not pay the amount before the written deadline . A few days later the grandmother was sent a box , and within the box the woman found the heads of her two grandchildren . Whilst telling the story , Nesrin had tears in her eyes and was shaking . Unsurprisingly , the story seemed to have traumatized her . The family decided after hearing the story to flee Syria , to avoid putting themselves in danger of IS . The mother explained that they were terrified that they might get killed if they stayed and were extremely worried about the lives of their children . They took their children from school not wanting to take any risk that something similar might happen to their children . They sold , for example , all their property , their business , their house and furniture to save up as much money as possible .
Despite the problems associated with the ongoing civil war , the Haddad family cited their main concern as being the rise of terrorism in their area . This danger was exacerbated as they are Kurds because of the strategic location of the city Cobane that the IS wanted . 122 After the realization of the danger of staying , the parents decided to flee in search of a safer life . 123
113 Name was changed by the author
114 Name was changed by the author
115 Name was changed by the author
116 Name was changed by the author
117 Name was changed by the author
118 Name was changed by the author
119 Name was changed by the author
120 ( Haddad 2019 , 1 )
121 Price of the currency was calculated into euros- comment by the author
122 ( BBC News 2015 )
123 ( Haddad 2019 , 1 )
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