Syrian migrants’ love story breaks on Turkey’s Aegean shore

Taylan Yıldırım – Doğan News Agency

A vivid diary written by a young Syrian girl has added to the heart-wrenching stories of the ongoing refugee tragedy, found after washing up on Turkey’s Aegean shore following the deadly capsizing of another migrant boat bound for Europe.

The soaked notebook, in which the girl writes about her loves, disappointments and ambitions, is another reminder that the migrant crisis amounts to much more than numbers and statistics.

It was found on the beach soon after the lifeless bodies of 31 migrants washed ashore off İzmir’s Dikili coast on Jan. 5 and later handed to Doğan News Agency reporters on the scene. However, whether the young girl was among the migrants who died in the tragedy remains unclear, as she did not write her name in the diary.

The diary, written in Arabic, describes how the young couple escaped from their war-torn country and arrived in Turkey. According to the diary, the girl’s lover Besil left her behind in the Aegean province of İzmir and ultimately managed to cross over to Germany.


On pages weathered by salty sea water, the girl writes about her desperate love for Besil. The diary begins with the story of how she and Besil managed to escape Damascus with his family as the civil war in Syria heated up and how they came to Turkey together. However, the diary later describes the girl’s sorrow about being left behind by Besil in İzmir.

It can be understood through the diary entries that the migrant girl learned he was still alive in Europe through social media.

“I look at your Facebook profile. When I see you’re online, I almost rejoice. But I’m dying a hundred times as I’m away from you. I can’t live like a normal person. It’s like I’m dead,” she writes in one entry.

“You saw me as a loveless woman but still went to Europe. You are cruel. Do you know how much I worry and feel sorrow? Were you freed from me when you got there [Europe]? You are living in my heart and soul. I want to be with you every moment. I’m living with you,” she writes later.

She also expresses her hope that one day her lover would be able to read the diary.

“One day you will see what I’ve written in this notebook. That time will come. You have not tired of this love as much as I have. I know I must forget you, but I can’t. I’ve missed you so much and my heart wants to see you. I want to hear your voice. You are so far away from me. You are living a new life in the place you have gone to and you are with new people. But I have not forgotten you. There is emptiness in my heart and I could never find anyone else like you. I’ve never loved anyone but you,” the girl writes elsewhere.