Stating that he could not participate in the Turkish Championships due to citizenship issues and that his only wish was to compete in the Turkish National Team, 18-year-old Iraqi Turk Ali Adnan Selim Tahan states that his biggest goal and wish is to compete in the Turkish National Team with the Crescent and Star jersey. Ali Adnan Selim Tahan told Journalist-Writer Muharrem Değirmen what it means to be a child in war and to be a Turk in Turkmeneli, and also talked about his goals in sports.
Ali Adnan Selim Tahan, who came to the Motherland Turkey from Turkmeneli with his family in 2016 when he was only 11 years old, has a story about being a Turk there and his migration, in addition to his sports story.
BEING A CHILD IN THE MIDDLE OF WAR…
Ali Adnan Selim Tahan, who came to Turkey by escaping from the war, explained that the painful face of the war he witnessed at the age of 8 is still not erased from his childhood memory; “I was a child of 8-9 years old during the war in Tal Afar, Iraq. I have seen the biggest problems I can see at this age. People dying in front of our eyes, the sounds of planes and bombs are the biggest problems that can be experienced in a war, and we saw the war. "We grew up under this war and these events for 8 years when we were only 9-3 years old," he tells us.
BEING TURKISH IN IRAQ
Ali Adnan Selim Tahan told Journalist-Writer Muharrem Değirmen that being a Turk and speaking Turkish in Iraq had great difficulties. Tahan said that one of the biggest difficulties they suffered there was that they were educated in Turkish and Arabic; “As soon as we opened our eyes to life, our first problem was not being able to read or speak Turkish. Turkmen racism in Iraq and there were tons of problems. The Turkmens there had a lot of trouble, and they always looked at us as foreigners. We were always excluded as if we were foreigners, and the Turks there still continue to be excluded and treated as foreigners. And since there was no Turkishness there, we were always missing a piece of us. One of the tons of problems there was that Arabs, Kurds and others would always be superior to us, and the Turks would always be in the last place. The main issues that hurt us the most were the lack of literacy in Turkish, the fact that Turkmens were treated like foreigners there, and the Turks there did not respect them very much. "They were racist because they looked at us as foreigners, because we were Turks, and because we spoke Turkish, we were always looked at as foreigners," he said.
THE DIFFICULT JOURNEY FROM IRAQ TO TURKEY
With the unbearable pain of war and being excluded as a Turk, Iraqi Turk Ali Adnan Selim Tahan and his family decide to come to the Motherland Turkey. Explaining that the difficult journey took a month; “After leaving Iraq, we went to Syria. During that period, we passed through dangerous roads and regions, thank God, we survived that and stayed in Raqqa, Syria for about a week. There were unknown armies there and we had some difficulties there too, but we got through it and after that we went to another city in Syria. We stayed there for about a week and then went on a 24-hour walk. To go to another city and at that time we passed through bomb-ridden and dangerous terrain and finally arrived. All of these experiences were during the winter, very cold and rainy weather. We stayed in a Syrian city close to Turkey for about 20 days. During our stay, it was an area where the Free Syrian Army was present, and the Free Syrian army fought each other there for an unknown reason for a day. We also saw that war and after that we went to a village close to the Turkish borders. After a journey of approximately 15 hours, we reached the village. We stayed there for a day and then went to a house near the Turkish border. Turkey's borders were visible from there and it was around 4 in the morning, a foggy, rainy and snowy day. The walk, which took about 8 hours, was very dangerous and according to the smugglers there, we walked through a bombed area. "It was a very difficult road with ups and downs. We were able to overcome all the obstacles and go to a village in Antakya. On the way, our bags and some of our belongings were stolen. We were able to enter Turkey with the clothes we were wearing," he explained about the difficult journey.
THEY ARE NOW IN THE HOMELAND
In the cold winter conditions, under the shadow of bullets and bombs, the Tahan Family now reaches the Motherland Turkey. Ali Adnan Selim Tahan, who told the adventure of coming to Antakya and then to Bursa to Journalist-Author Muharrem Değirmen; “After staying in a village in Antakya for 5 hours, a private vehicle came and took us to Antakya bus station. Since we knew someone in Bursa, we bought a ticket to Bursa and our Bursa adventure began.
At the end of the wait, the bus arrived and when he saw the mud and dirty clothes on us, the man would not let us into his vehicle. After we cleaned up a little, he picked us up and our journey to Bursa began. Our 15-hour journey had begun. There was always fear for 15 hours. Because we were told that if the police see you, you will be deported or something. But we saw that, on the contrary, the passengers and people who saw us and learned that we were Turkmens were very happy and supported us. 15 hours later, we arrived at the Bursa bus station, we saw the police at the bus station, and we did not go inside the bus station in that cold winter day, we waited outside the bus station for our relative who came to pick us up at home, wondering if they would see us or send us back from here, etc., he explained his fearful journey.
OUR ONLY WANT IS TO BE CITIZENS OF THE REPUBLIC OF Türkiye
And Ali Adnan Selim Tahan, who has now started living in Bursa, told Journalist-Writer Muharrem Değirmen that he has entered a long struggle to realize his goals, and that his greatest wish is to compete with the Turkish National team jersey in the kick boxing and muaythai branches, which he loves as a citizen of the Republic of Turkey. told. Tahan stated that they had no difficulties after coming to Bursa and that many people helped them; “We were now in Bursa and Bursa life began for us. It didn't take long for us to get used to Bursa and Turkey. Because our homeland and our agreement in our speech were the same. We are currently in Bursa and continuing our lives. As I said at the beginning, there was always a piece of us missing, but now we feel that the fragmentation of the word has been completed and we are a completely whole piece. From time to time, events happen that hurt us and make us feel sad. Sometimes we are ostracized by some people in Turkey and we are subjected to bad words. The words "foreigner" and "go to your country" hurt us a lot.
One of our biggest problems in Turkey is that they do not grant Turkish citizenship. Even though I have documents proving that myself and my grandfathers are Turkish and Ottoman citizens, I still have not been able to obtain citizenship. "Since I cannot obtain citizenship, this puts me back from my goals and dreams, and we request our responsible presidents and our President to solve this problem," he said.
His BIGGEST GOAL IS TO WEAR THE NATIONAL TEAM JERSEY
Ali Adnan Selim Tahan, who is now moving towards his goals after the difficult journey, explained his work in this direction to Journalist-Writer Muharrem Değirmen and stated that his biggest goal is to compete in the national team with the Crescent and Star jersey; “I am an Iraqi Turk. I grew up in Telafer district. We decided to return to my homeland, Turkey, because of the war and troubles there. After returning to Turkey, my passion in 2018 was martial arts; I was introduced to kickboxing and muaythai sports. There were international successes I achieved after I started these. I achieved 3rd place in the world in kickboxing and 2nd place in international muaythai. Due to some problems in Turkey, I could not obtain citizenship and therefore I cannot participate in the Turkish Championships. My goal is to join the Turkish National Team and represent Turkey and our star and crescent flag in the best way possible in the European and World Championships. I won't stop until I achieve that goal. I will work. How happy is the one who says I am a Turk!"
Our young fighter, who continues his training with his trainer Aydın Altay in Bursa, is competing in the ring at 81 kg. He has a good score of 4 out of 4 in professional kickboxing and 3 out of 2 in mutayhai.
