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TRUCKING INDUSTRY & TRUCKERS' LIFE, IN THE MIDDLE EAST
* ‘Truckers without borders’ sustain Syria
-- Syrian truck drivers are the only ones who maintain good relations with commanders of the regime, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Islamic State (IS) and Democratic Union Party (PYD) forces, all while constantly monitoring the clashes... An interview with a truck driver working in Syria shows how truck drivers are the only parties permitted to pass freely through the country's violent internal borders... In the four-year Syrian civil war, 250,000 people have been killed and 4 million of them have become refugees in neighboring countries. Millions of them are struggling to survive in a country divided four ways between the Bashar al-Assad regime, the opposition, IS and the PYD. Wherever they live, these Syrians meet their daily needs of flour, medicine, baby food, fuel and clothing through merchants and truck drivers who are the only ones who can cross the internal borders... It is lethal trade for the drivers. They navigate essential, fine points of survival: Without distinction, they maintain good relations with the entire gamut of factions and religiously keep track of daily clashes and events on the ground. Their biggest advantage is the constant need of all fighting parties...
* SYRIAN TRUCKERS' LIFE: This is their story...
-- Salim is one of millions of Syrians who is a victim of civil war. His family lives in Aleppo. He doesn’t have a permanent living place because he makes his living trucking through a country whose economy has collapsed. Like many of his colleagues, he has faced death many times. Salim’s story is the story of how people remaining in Syria obtain their survival needs like food, fuel and other basics and the trade relations between enemy groups. Syrians who have decided to stay obtain their flour, medicine and fuel thanks to truckers like Salim who can enter any zone, no matter who controls it. Syrian truckers are probably the only group who can cross the internal borders of different groups... Truckers are not very talkative. They don’t want to attract attention. Only Salim and a businessman who goes by MU shared the details of the “lethal commerce” on condition we don’t use their full names. Their biggest advantage is that all fighters, wherever they operate, have one thing in common: They have to take bread home. MU explained, “Trade routes are never closed fully in any area. At the end, we carry flour, pasta and oil. When we take goods to one area, families of people fighting there also benefit” ... There are other fine points to keep in mind when shuttling through internal borders controlled by enemy groups. For example, truckers constantly monitor the safety of their routes through people they know. To find goods and to carry them, they have to maintain good relations with commanders in every zone. MU said, “They inform us when they seize commercial commodities. That way, they make money and we get goods to sell” ... A security guard in a Mercedes escorts trucks that carry valuable goods from Esselame to the Kurdish Afrin region. This Mercedes is the ticket that allows the trucks to pass unhindered through areas controlled by various groups. When fighting groups see the Mercedes, they know that the trucks carry goods that won’t be touched and let them pass... Although production has slowed down enormously because of the civil war, it hasn’t fully come to a standstill in main cities like Aleppo and Damascus. Still, there is no electricity in most parts of the country. Small workshops produce goods, from textiles to car generators. As they can’t be exported to Turkey, Iraq or other countries, they are sold inside the country. Telephone networks are not working. Merchants and truckers learn what is produced through word of mouth from local commanders. MU said, “This is commerce with the conditions of 100 years ago” ... The regime supporters, IS and the PYD have set up their own taxation systems in the areas they control. This tax is a kind of life insurance for merchants and truckers. For example, in the PYD area, if you are carrying tea and sugar, you pay $200 for each truck... Truckers say the system is different in the IS area: “If you are transiting through [IS] area, you pay small amounts. But if you are delivering to their area, they determine a tax based on the type of good, its value and identity of the merchant. Assad, [IS] and PYD have established systems, but not the FSA. The FSA has too many factions, and there is no established taxation system [there.]” ...
Aleppo, Syria - YAZIYI TÜRKÇE OKUYABİLİRSİNİZ/All Monitor, by Mehmet Akif Ersoy - September 4, 2015
Labels: dangerous job, truckers' life, trucking industry news worldwide
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