Syrian father, daughter reunite in Turkey after 12 years

Syrian politician Ammar Haidar, imprisoned by the Bashar Assad regime in 2009, reunited with his daughter Marwa Haidar in the Turkish metropolis Istanbul after 12 years.

Born in Hama, Syria, Haidar, since his youth, has opposed the Assad family due to their anti-democratic practices.

Haidar, who started his political activities in the early 1980s, was sentenced to prison many times for his opposing activities.

He was imprisoned for two years in 2009. Not satisfied with putting Haidar in jail, the Assad regime also put pressure on his daughter and wife.

Haidar, who was a well-off contractor in Syria, sent his wife and daughter to Jordan due to this pressure.

After he was released with the amnesty following the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011, Haidar decided to fight the Assad regime with other oppositionists in Syria instead of going back to his family.

He continued his struggle until 2014 and was arrested again in the same year and imprisoned for a short time, and later went to Turkey in 2015 because Jordan did not accept political refugees.

His daughter Marwa, who is now 28 years old, had to go to Jordan with her mother when she was a 16-year-old high school student. After graduating from high school there, she studied graphic design at a private university, but was forced to leave her education in the 3rd grade due to the deterioration of her father's financial situation.

She worked in various jobs to take care of her mother and make a living, and also used to draw graphic designs.

Although she and her father wanted to meet during this process, they could not get together due to various obstacles.

A father living in Turkey and a daughter living in Lebanon had an opportunity to meet in...