Dream happens: Syrian refugee becomes doctor in Turkey

By Emre Ayvaz

SAKARYA, Turkey (AA) – Dropping out of a school of medicine when he fled the civil war in the homeland, a Syrian refugee achieved his dream in Turkey when he became a medical doctor.

Ibrahim Saban left Syria for Turkey in 2013 due to the civil war while he was studying medicine at the University of Aleppo.

He took a university entrance exam for foreign students in Istanbul in 2014 and won the Faculty of Medicine at Sakarya University in northwestern Turkey.

Graduated from the university last year, Saban serves patients at the pandemic emergency service of Sakarya Training and Research Hospital.

The whole world knows Turkish hospitality, he said, praising friendly and helpful people.

“Turkey embraces refugees and this shows the humanitarian and compassionate approach of this nation. It is very humanitarian to be able to help someone in need or in a difficult situation. You really can’t find this everywhere in the world,” he added.

“It is our duty to help anybody with health problems regardless of their nations. I do this in Turkey and it makes me happier because Turkey helped me with my being a doctor,” he said.

Syria has been embroiled in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Turkey hosts some 3.6 million Syrian refugees, more than any other country in the world.