Turkey now harbours approximately two million refugees from Syria, and increasingly from Iraq as well. This means that along with the direct neighbours of Iraq and Syria – Jordan and Lebanon- Turkey is now bearing most of the burden when it comes to absorbing and taking care of these refugees. Some of the refugees live in enclosed camps that are unfortunately largely inaccessible from the outside.
However, most of them are so-called urban refugees who now live in Mardin, near the Syrian border, as well as in just about every large city in Turkey. More than 500,000 refugees now live in Istanbul alone. The Goethe-Institut Istanbul is conducting various projects that are especially designed to assist these refugees in their current precarious situation.
“Learning to Walk, Over Again…” is a series of images created during the Goethe Institut’s Cultural Relief Program, which was designed to support refugees of different ethnicities living in Turkish refugee camps near the Syrian border. The program features workshops and activities with a trauma therapy focus. More specifically, social and performing arts were utilized as a vehicle for such therapy. Activities here included a “Stilt Workshop for Refugee Kids in Mardin City,” a “Train the Trainee Programme at the Refugee Camp in Nusaybin,” the “Searching Traces: Dance Workshop,” and “Music Therapy in Mardin City and at the Refugee Camp in Nusaybin.”
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