Jamala, who had to leave her country due to the conflict in Ukraine, took refuge with her sister, who lives in Istanbul. Jamala, who recently went to the Romanian border with her two children and then entered Turkey, had to leave her husband in Ukraine due to the mobilization rule.
When asked about the beginning of the conflict, she said, “There was talk that something would happen in the last days, but we did not expect a war. We woke up one morning and the war had begun” she replied.
She stated that she did not want to leave Kiev at first, but had to leave as the situation quickly deteriorated within a few hours. Jamala, who said that she spent her days in three different shelters throughout the whole process, without a single outfit, said that she went to Chernobyl as soon as she got the chance, and from there she reached Istanbul by crossing the Romanian border.
“We knew what happened in Crimea was the beginning of something, but we never thought things would get this big” she said when asked about what happened. She added that her only wish right now is for Ukraine to win.
“I am going through the same thing in 2022 as my grandmother went through in 1944. She had woken up to a battle at five in the morning, and so did I. I was going to come to Turkey to shoot a music video, now I came as a refugee” Jamala continued, adding that her husband is currently fighting for Ukraine and has never lost hope.
She said that she has absolute trust in her country, people and president and she thanked all the world press for being with her.
Stating that she is already looking forward to the days when she will return home to her husband, Jamala stated that she was lucky and that she was able to take shelter in Istanbul, but that she felt sorry for the thousands and millions of women in her country.
When asked how many people were refugees, she replied that she did not know the exact number, but that it took about two days to cross the line at the border crossing.
Stating that she did not know how long the war would last and that she was very worried because of this, Jamala said that she hoped the war would end as soon as possible.
