By Ammar Johmani
On the glittering Bosporus strait, a boat outfitted to look like an old Damascus neighborhood offers Syrians living in Turkey a wistful taste of home.
To the beat of drums and folkloric processions, Syrians looking to escape from the grim reality of their nation’s war glide down memory lane on the “Layali Shameyah,” or “Syrian Nights” cruise in Istanbul.
But there are implicit ground rules. Politics are checked at the dock, with no talk of rebels or the regime, say the Syrian entertainers on board, who hail from different political backgrounds. And out of sensitivity to the war’s tragedy, the organizers strain to curb the debauchery common to Istanbul’s party boat scene.
“This was a challenge for us,” said Ahmad Abdul Ghani, the business’s 33-year old founder. “We put our heads together and decided the best way would be to focus on folklore and culture, rather than a party environment.”
Mr. Abdul Ghani began the cruise in 2015 with dual aims: to bring Syrians who fled the war to Turkey together and to draw other Arabs enchanted by Syria’s cultural traditions but now also locked out of the country.
The boat’s advertising slogan for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is “our joy is in being together,” a jingle that rhymes in Arabic. The cruise has been packed throughout the holy period, which ended on Saturday, due to a discounted price and the lure of traditional entertainment.
On a recent evening, Syrian entertainers dressed in baggy shirwal pants roamed the boat twirling their theatrically upturned mustaches, a throwback to when such facial hair was the measure of a man’s dignity and authority.
A hakawati, or storyteller, regaled the audience with morality tales, evoking traditional wise men of Damascus. A three-piece band sang classic Arabic tunes as guests dined on specialties from Homs and Aleppo.
Ruba Khawaja, who left Damascus two years ago with her three school age children, snapped selfies. “This is a way to remember the good old days,” she said. “It’s important to get out of our pain.”
The cruise isn’t without controversy. Another family from Damascus watched the entertainment disapprovingly, without standing or clapping, saying Ramadan was a time of reflection and austerity.
When a woman began to shimmy slowly around her dance partner, her hips moving in an Arabic belly dance, the entertainment troupe gathered quickly around them with their drums and swords, pushing the duo into a group procession.
“When something starts to go overboard, we rush in there with our swords to say: “Remember, this is a cultural performance,’” said Mohammad Rifai, procession chief, chuckling.
On a Facebook page for the cruise, some Syrians called it expensive and inappropriate. One Turkish user wrote that the Syrians should “go home.”
Half of Syria’s prewar population of 23 million has been displaced since 2011 when the war began, and around 3 million now live in Turkey, more than in any other nation. Turkey has proudly embraced them, even as both sides acknowledge mutual weariness in a war with no end in sight.
The cruise staff tout their accomplishments. The business gives jobs to dozens of Syrians who had otherwise struggled to find work in Turkey, they say, and it has reaffirmed apolitical cultural pride among exiled Syrians.
“It caught people’s attention,” Mr. Abdul Ghani said, who left Damascus in 2013. It shows that “Syrians aren’t just here as refugees.”
The four-hour cruise’s regulars, who can afford the normal $50-per person fee, include Arab tourists and wealthier Syrian families. There also is a younger crowd for which the evening is a splurge, but also a catharsis.
Young Syrians like Mohammed Fadel, who left his family behind in Aleppo, stomp and sing the night away. Mr. Fadel initially struggled to learn Turkish and settle in when he arrived four years ago, but now works two jobs, as a paralegal and a translator.
“I miss my country. I miss my family,” he said, catching his breath and mopping his brow after dancing with friends from his hometown. “But at the same time, I am happy we are gathered together here.”
As the cruise neared Turkish land, the mood swung from upbeat to somber at the last performance: a scene drawn from a popular Arabic television series set in a fictional Damascus neighborhood between the world wars.
Dramatized by a melancholy Syrian melody, the scene involved a dispute over gold between two neighbors—the moral evoking peace and forgiveness.
“This is how the people of Syria were raised: on truthfulness, loyalty, forgiveness, and generosity,” the lead actor proclaimed to claps and tears from the audience.
