Two Hands and a Brush

25 May 2015

Turkish activists have lunched “Two Hands and a Brush” initiation, which includes Syrian and Turkish children, who would draw together a painting that would be presented upon its completion in the corridors of “Taksim Metro station” in Istanbul, between the 25th and 30th of this month.

The event was organized by “Yeryüzü Doktorları” Organization, in collaboration with university students. The first part was made with the participation of 80 children from Syria and Turkey, “in which they expressed their feelings and dreams and showed their own world through drawing on canvas”, in “Bezmialem Vakif Universitesi”, in order to find common ground for the two people to gather, as organizers said.

In a statement to the Department of Psychology, who runs the initiation, “the Syrians have faced difficult circumstances and left their country, including children, entered a new society, it is our duty to prevent their alienation and help them to be able to overcome their problems in a safe environment”.

It also stated that there are Turkish children who are not aware of the events in Syria; “The formation of this group can generate a healthy reaction to the Syrian society, and to get rid of the negative perception towards the Syrians.” Explaining that the organization has already organized many events in Istanbul to serve the same goal, to find common ground, such as arranging for activities for Syrian and Turkish Children, from the same age group, where trained specialists prepared many activities; games, riddles and plays.

Although Turkey has opened its doors to receive Syrian refugees since the beginning of the Syrian revolution, but the social Syrian-Turkish relations is still in a state of absence of interaction, because of several factors, especially the language difference as well as some cultural differences; The initiative comes as one of the rare activities evaluated Turkish and Syrian organizations to work on the integration of the two peoples and promote was checked.