Iskenderun Region, Family and Homeland

 One of the people of Iskenderun said: I am from Iskenderun region. I was born and grew up there, It means everything to me; homeland, family and origin. This region houses several towns: Antioch, Swedieh, Al- Harbyiat, and al- Rihanieh. Antioch is located on Mount Alomanus.

Antioch is an ancient city and  is the capital of old empires, but earthquakes destroyed its monuments many times. The city is about 10 km from Dafna, a summer resort which is 30 km from Swedieh port and 5km from Iskenderun city the capital of Iskenderun.

Villagers come from all over the place  to sell  their produce and come back home with what they need for decent living. He added: I was in the secondary school  when  France conspired with Turkey to skin off Iskenderun  from Syria the motherland to annex  it to Turkey. This phase lasted two years and was  characterized by solidarity of all Arab people. All have one motto “Arabism over all, religion is for God and  homeland is for all.”

During that period the youth had premonitions about how this region will be far from the homeland “Syria “. what would happen to the Arabic language?

 The tendency that spread then was to flee to Syria. The national Government in Syria opened a boarding school to accommodate us where we pursued our studies for one full year.  Other students continued their studies in different Syrian cities especially in Aleppo, Damascus, Lattakia, and Hama.

N.H.khider