“On 6th September 2019, Cagdas and I were sent to Balseskin Reception Centre. It was our first step into the direct provision system. After a few months, we were relocated to a hotel in Ballsbridge and on 18th March 2020, we were moved to Tullamore, just as the pandemic was kicking off.

We live with a mix of people from Afghanistan, Syria and Africa, people escaping war and terrible poverty. We are the only Turks who are not in Ireland for economic reasons. Turkey is an amazing country, but it is not a free country. Although Kurds are not a minority in Turkey, they suffer greatly. Their language, culture and identity are ostracized. They can’t even give their children Kurdish names. The Turkish government recently banned a Kurdish language theatre play. We miss our friends, and we miss our families but staying in Turkey was impossible due to our political beliefs.
Our English language abilities are quite limited, so it is really hard to integrate with the local people of Tullamore to share our story and learn about Irish culture. Covid 19 has made integration even harder. For two people who met in a book club, we really miss getting together and sharing our ideas and philosophies with other intellectuals. And without the ability to communicate with Irish people, our world has become so small and so lonely. It is like a singer who loses their voice or a photographer that loses their sight. We feel that direct provision makes us invisible. It is a mental challenge more than anything else.
We want to be productive, to be useful. I would love to be an English Teacher or interpreter, and Cagdas wants to find work as a journalist. He continues to write for several internet media outlets on culture, politics and middle east affairs. His articles have been published by The Independent (Turkey edition), SOL Newspaper and Republic. We have projects that we want to do. We want to tell the story of how the Ottoman Sultan Khaleefah Abdul-Majid sent £1,000 and five ships full of food to Drogheda in 1847 during the Irish famine. The symbol of Drogheda United Football Club is the Star and Crescent, just like our Turkish flag!
The direct provision system was designed to accommodate refugees for six months, but many people are in their sixth year of limbo. We have hope, though. We attend a 1hr English lesson every week, and we are determined to improve our English so we can talk to Irish people, make friends and hopefully make a life here”.