Dima, a mother of two from the impoverished neighborhoods of eastern Aleppo, Syria, fled to Türkiye in January 2024, seeking safety from a life shaped by war and poverty. Even before the war, survival in Aleppo was a daily struggle for Dima and her family. The conflict only deepened their hardship, forcing her to make the heartbreaking decision to leave her disabled husband behind and escape with their children.
Crossing the border through Kilis, Dima and her children made their way to İstanbul with the help of relatives. But life in Türkiye proved to be another maze of uncertainty. Without legal registration, Dima faced one closed door after another—especially when it came to healthcare. An undiagnosed medical condition causing severe heart palpitations, fainting spells, and seizures put her life at risk.
In a desperate attempt to seek treatment, Dima used her younger sister’s identification to visit a hospital in İstanbul. But this act, born out of necessity, led to her detention after hospital staff alerted authorities. She was taken first to Arnavutköy, then to Çatalca Removal Center, where her world became even smaller.
Detention was a place where dignity seemed to vanish. Dima was forced to sleep on the cold floor without even a pillow, surrounded by tension and fear. She witnessed and endured unrest among detainees, and despite suffering four serious medical episodes, her treatment was limited to sedatives that left her in a haze for days.
Dima’s brother, unable to afford a private attorney, had been desperately searching for help. He heard about Refugee Rights Türkiye (RRT) through a lawyer who knew of the organization’s work. “When we learned RRT offers free legal support, we were relieved,” Dima later shared. “There was no way we could have paid for a lawyer. We were trapped without options.”
Thanks to her brother’s determination, RRT stepped in. Communication had to happen through him because Dima’s health prevented her from standing in long phone queues inside the detention center. When RRT’s legal team visited Dima in detention, she made it clear that she did not wish to return to Syria. She feared not just for herself but for her husband and children. The lawyers took her words seriously and filed a detailed petition advocating against her deportation, arguing that her health condition and personal circumstances made her detention unjust and unsafe.
RRT’s support became a lifeline. Despite an initial legal session being interrupted by one of her medical crises, their perseverance led to her release under a signature duty. The day she left Çatalca, Dima described feeling as if she had “stepped into heaven.”
“I thought I would be forgotten there. But thanks to RRT, I felt human again,” she said.
Yet, Dima’s battle continues. Her illness remains undiagnosed, and without registration, she cannot access the healthcare system properly. Worse still, her children—twin 12-year-olds—are unable to attend school because they too remain undocumented. “More than anything, I worry about my children’s future,” Dima confided. “Without an education, what will happen to them?”
It is this fear that drives her hope to reunite with her father in the Netherlands. There, she dreams of providing her children with a life where they can go to school, access healthcare, and finally have the stability every child deserves.
Dima’s story is one of endurance against all odds. It is a testament to the strength of a mother determined to protect her family and a reminder of how essential legal aid and compassion are in the lives of displaced people.
