SIDON, Lebanon: A Turkish flag is raised outside the home of Mohammad Abed Channa in the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Mieh Mieh, and for good reason. He and his wife and son, aptly named Erdogan, recently gained Turkish citizenship.
“Lucky him,” said Mohammad Mohammad Gali, Chanaa’s neighbor. “I wish we could get nationality and leave this mess behind.”
The eight-member Chanaa family resides in an ill-equipped house which lacks even the most basic amenities. Chanaa is currently unemployed but previously worked laying concrete at a factory nearby. The Palestinian family hopes Turkish nationality will bring with it a better life.
Chanaa says the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s staunch condemnation of Israeli policies in Gaza led him to name his son after the leader, a decision that would have life-changing consequences.
“Four years ago in 2010, after the Israeli war on Gaza, the statements made by [then Turkish Prime Minister] Erdogan showing his support for the Palestinian cause was why I named my son Erdogan,” Chanaa explained.
Chanaa’s parents hail from the Palestinian village of Smayriyya. They fled during the 1948 Nakba. Chanaa was born in the notorious refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, and still believes he will return to his original village someday. The love he has for his country is reflected in his adoration of the Turkish president’s stances toward the Arab-Israeli conflict.
After the 2009-2010 Gaza war, Turkey sent an aid flotilla to Gaza in May which was attacked by the Israelis while crossing international waters. The event led to the deterioration of diplomatic ties between the countries.
During the war, Erdogan fiercely criticized Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, which had lasted for 22 days.
Chanaa told The Daily Star that he had harbored great hopes that his son would one day meet his namesake. It seems his prayers were answered. His son, born in June 2010, met Erdogan in November of the same year, when he arrived to Sidon to inaugurate a hospital funded by Turkey.
“I was eager to get the kid to see him even from afar because I loved this man so much,” Chanaa explained. But what happened on that inauguration day was beyond his expectations.
“Suddenly, I got a call from MP Bahia Hariri asking me about my son Erdogan and my address. She sent a car to take me to where the launch ceremony was, and there Sheikh [then-Prime Minister] Saad Hariri held my son and introduced him to Erdogan,” Chanaa said.
The Turkish leader was touched to such an extent that he requested that the family prepare their papers and apply for Turkish citizenship. Four years later, with the applications processed and approved, Chanaa’s dreams are coming true.
“After [the meeting] I sent a personal letter to the president, but didn’t get a reply. But I didn’t lose hope,” he explained. With the help of the Palestinian Association for Human Rights, the family was able to contact the Turkish Embassy.
“Suddenly I got a call from the [Turkish] Embassy congratulating me, telling me my son was granted Turkish citizenship. Ten days later they told me my wife and I had also been granted citizenship,” Chanaa said, a picture of his baby son and the Turkish president hanging overhead.
His other children Abdul Rahman, Zahraa, Ibrahim, Ezzeddine and Jihane are still waiting to get their citizenship approved, but Chanaa reckons it won’t take too long.
“They asked me for papers of my children to ensure that they too are granted nationality,” he said.
“When I held the papers approving Turkish nationality, for the first time I felt like a human being,” Chanaa added.
Citizenship, he continued, would give him and his family more freedom to move, travel and enjoy full rights as a citizen.
“I will go wherever I find a better future for my children, we’ve been refugees our whole lives and we’ve suffered a lot,” Chanaa said when asked what was next for him.
“But the first step will be Turkey, hopefully,” he added. Chanaa said he plans to live in Istanbul and wants to learn Turkish.
Erdogan’s mother, Khadija Ibrahim, explained that her child’s name served as a great omen for them. “We thank President Erdogan for his big heart.”
“I hope the citizenship will give us a new life and a better future for my children,” she said, holding her baby son Erdogan, who held a photo of the Turkish leader, saying “we need to go wherever grandfather Erdogan is.”
Chanaa said he teaches his children to follow in the example of Erdogan, and often will relay to them what the Turkish president says when he appears in the news.
“Maybe I will get the right to vote in Turkey, and this is a right that us Palestinian refugees have been denied for ages. If I do I will be sure to elect Erdogan, or someone like him, whose politics are based on morality and not pure self interest,” he added.
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