This is what happens when you have government leaders who represent their own self interests, putting job opportunities and national security for its citizens dead last. Sound familiar?
A well-known Iranian born writer, Ramin Peymani explains in a Huffington Post- Germany article, “Der Syrer – eine Flüchtlingsgeschichte” (“The Syrians, A Refugee Story”), that, while living in Germany, he met up with the Syrian refugee in the checkout line at a local grocery store.
Being Iranian, Peymani could speak fluently with the “refugee,” who freely admitted that he, and all the others claiming to be refugees, were not fleeing war, but had merely come in search of jobs and money.
The Syrian told Peymani that his mother lived in America, that that his sister was still in Syria.
“Did you escape with your mother? Why your sister has not come?” Peymani asked.
“No, I did not flee. None of us had to flee,” the Syrian freely admitted.
“The Assad regime is cruel and unjust, but you can live in Syria, if you just don’t mess with it.”
Peymani then asked if the Syrian had then fled from the Islamic State terrorists. The Syrian’s answer in this regard was revealing as well:
“I come from Damascus, like most of us [refugees] do that I’ve met in the camp. There is no IS [in Damascus]; it is in other regions, for example, towards Iraq.”
Peymani then asked him the logical next question: “Are you saying that most Syrians do not flee from war and persecution?”
The Syrian answered: “Yes. My friends and I went because we didn’t want to go to the army. And because it is easier to get a good job and earn money in Europe.”
Peymani then wanted to know why so many Syrians had come so suddenly. “Why now are so many coming? Is it because the Assad regime has become worse?”
The Syrian replied: “No. He [Assad] has been in power many years already. The regime is cruel and can kill opponents, but my family and I have not been touched, and none of my friends either.”
So why had they all now come to Europe, Peymani asked, to which the Syrian replied:
“In the summer we saw on the Internet that Germany wanted people to live there. We were invited to come here. And it was said that the state would take care of us and we would be given jobs. But I cannot find one…”
Peymani also asked him what route he had followed to Germany.
“I lived in Turkey for some time after my mother had emigrated to the United States to be with relatives. But I could not get a visa for the USA, even though my mother has a green card.”
Peymani asked him if he had “fled” to Turkey “because of the war in Syria?”
Laughing, the Syrian replied: “No (laughs). My friends and I are here because we thought we’d find work. We did not like Turkey.”
He was then asked if his “story is typical of the people who leave Syria?”
The Syrian replied: “I think most go for the same reason as I did. All men of my age, who want to just live better elsewhere.”
