Homs – a Laidback City with Humorous People

It is a city that has become the focal point of the ongoing crisis in Syria – Homs. Dr. Rim Turkmani lives in London now, but grew up in Homs.

She has fond memories of the time she spent there. She came in today to the BBC studio at Bush House in London. She remembers Homs as a sleepy town. “Nothing ever happened in Homs.”

“I cannot make the connection anymore between the Homs I knew and the Homs I see in the news,” she told me after the interview with Anchor Lisa Mullins. “The smallest events would become news. And now, there are reports about bodies being found there.”

It has been a difficult year for her. All her family members, including her parents live there. She cannot confirm if all of them are alive. “I talk to them when I can.”

She thinks the cosmopolitan nature of the city is also partly why it has seen so much bloodshed. “People from different backgrounds live there.” And in times of crisis, she thinks, the divisions have hardened.

In spite of all this, she thinks the solution to Syria’s problems isn’t military intervention. She doesn’t want the west or anyone else to get involved militarily.

“Everyone will realize, the solution will have to be a political one.”