Turkey to screen documentary on Aleppo's Bana Alabed

By Aynur Ekiz and Ertugrul Subasi

ANKARA (AA) - A senior Turkish religious figure will join the screening of a new documentary produced about seven-year-old Syrian girl Bana Alabed who made headlines after tweeting her experiences during the siege of Aleppo.

Mehmet Gormez, head of the Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet) is scheduled to join the preview on Saturday in Ankara.

“En Route to Migration: Aleppan Bana Alabed” tells the story of Bana Alabed who tweeted the Syrian war from opposition-held parts of Aleppo.

The documentary will be shown as part of TRT Diyanet TV channel’s “En Route to Migration” series, telling heart-wrenching stories of refugees from different countries.

Busra Incesu Ozdemir, the producer and director of the documentary, told Anadolu Agency that she had asked Bana’s mother Fatma Alabed why her daughter had started on social media.

“‘We had nothing else to make ourselves heard and I did this for all Syrian people’,” Ozdemir was told.

Bana, her mother, father and two little brothers had been among the thousands of people evacuated on 19 Dec. 2016 from Aleppo.

She was later welcomed to Turkey by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the First Lady Emine Erdogan.

Bana thanked Erdogan for helping her family.

"You took us from Aleppo. We have been through many difficulties and pain. Our home was bombed and collapsed on us. We suffered a lot on the bus. We had no food, we were hungry. We thank you for everything,” she told the Turkish leader.

Erdogan later tweeted on his official account: “I was pleased to host @AlabedBana and her family at the Presidential Complex today. Turkey will always stand with the people of Syria.”

On Jan. 27, Bana again met the Turkish president in the company of U.S. actor Lindsay Lohan in Ankara.