Till now, Lebanon has been the most interesting place for me in Middle East. Poor and rich, Muslim, Christian and Druze, full of contrast, live together here. Muslims live in different conditions here. Lebanese Arab Muslims live in downtown and are in the trade. And the majority Palestines try to survive in Slums or refugee camps. You can not believe what you see in these refugee camps.
We, as 27 photographers, entered in Shatila Refugee Camp to experience these unlucky lives and divided into groups. Once we told them that we were Turk and Muslim, we were very surprized of their reaction towards us. They were so happy to see us and welcomed us so sincerely. A shop owner invited us for a glass of juice, and when we wanted to pay for it, he said this offer would hurt him. Another one calling us from the balcony invited us to his home. We had a tea talk together. There had been no other time that I was so proud to be a Turk. On the other side, no other time that I was so disgusted to be a humanbeing, seeing this cruelty.All these people left their houses, their own lands and trying to live in these bad conditions in a refugee camp.
In all the houses and shops, you could see posters, pictures related to Israel. On some of the walls, we could see flags of Palestine. They did not even let us take photos in some of the places. They did not want these strategic places to be transcribed. It was logical if you thought how many times they had been under attack. According to the records, on 16-18 September 1982, Israel soldiers killed 3.500 civilians in 2 days in Sabra and Shatila camps. And last bombing was, as we all remember, in 2006. All damaged and destroyed buildings are left in Shatila. These left grey buildings made the camp even more tragic.
In the entrance, there were armed soldiers or civilian dressed watchers. Their main purpose was to protect themselves against an unexpected attack, once again. Just a while after, one of these watchers (followers) stopped us and asked where we were from. After a phone call, he took us away to a shop. We, a group of 10, entered the shop. A guy welcomed us on the door and told us not to take any photos here and leave the place. We thanked him and continued our way in little back streets. And, just like in the movies, 3 guys with 2 motorcycles stopped us just at the corner. They started to question who we were. All had sun glasses covering their tough faces. We talked in English and told that we were Turk and Muslim. Then they wanted to check our cameras, which we were afraid of the most. I felt like I was in a film studio. I realized that we were in a really dangerous place. I started to show the photos without taking my camera off my neck. We told them all photos are permitted. And once again, we were safe because of being Turk and Muslim.
But when we continued to walk through the streets, the motorcycles continued to invade us, passing between us again and again. Of course, without an identity check, it was impossible to convince that we were Turk and Muslim. We decided to leave the camp because of these behaviours. When we were back to our hotel, we found out that our other friends had the same problems. Some of our friends were stucked in a clash between the police, soldiers and civilians. When the panzers and tanks were coming, they were taken to another house to be interrogated. When they were escaping, they saw some kids eating watermelons in the garbage, but they could not dare to photo.
I lost myself. I haven`t seen such a confusion, such lost lives. I am back from Lebanon, but my heart is still there. Anyone going to Lebanon, must at least take a look in Shatila refugee camp and then thank God for his/her freedom.
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