What:
A Borrowed Dress, hawkish leaders, a war of proxies and the bargains on the future lives of Syrian refugees. Where is home for them?
Who:
A conversation with Syrian-Turkish journalist and 2019 World Fellow Onur Burçak Belli followed by an hour-long documentary screening of ‘The Borrowed Dress”
Why:
This is very pertinent issue since many Syrians now want to return back to their country, but are unsure as to what their future looks like. President Erdogan justified the recent Turkish invasion of Northern Syria as a plan to create a ‘safe zone’ to repatriate some of the 3.6 million Syrians who fled to Turkey during the war.
How:
We will have a 30 minute conversation with Onur Burçak Belli on recent developments in Syria and then we’ll screen the 1 hour film “The Borrowed Dress,” which follows the journey of a Syrian family as they flee their native Syria to escape the horrors of the civil war engulfing the country and live as refugees in different parts of the world. The film speaks for the millions of families that were shattered and scattered all around the world. What is notable about the film’s cast is that, without exception, they want to return to Syria despite their terrible experiences of war there, a fact that inspired the film’s title.