Ode to Anya Anita Mısır | Truly free for the first time

Anya Mısır has built a new life in Amsterdam and left her years of identity struggle behind her. As a woman of Armenian descent who grew up in Turkey, she often felt excluded by her community and constantly struggled with the pressure to conform. But one day, she found the courage to search for a place where she could truly be herself.

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“One day, I packed my suitcase and left. The world was my home; borders only existed on maps,” says Anya. After years of traveling, she took her first steps in Amsterdam. ‘The first thing I felt was freedom. The first thought that came to mind was, ’Yes, this is life!'” With her keen powers of observation, Anya spent hours sitting on a bench that first evening in Amsterdam, watching the canals and the people. “No one asked me where I came from. No one tried to pigeonhole me. For the first time, I felt truly free.”

The traces of the past
 

But coming to Amsterdam was not an easy journey. In Turkey, she carried the burden of belonging to a minority. Many family members had to change their names out of fear to stay safe. “We are all human beings, but because of the fears of the past, we even had to hide our identity. That always hurt me,” says Anya.
 

Amsterdam, however, offered her a completely different world. “I'm no longer afraid, I'm no longer hiding. I know who I am and I'm ready to share this with the world.”
 

Hopeful for the future

Anya is not only fighting for her own freedom, but also for other women like her, who are “between two worlds” and cannot openly express their identity. “Life doesn't have to fit within certain boundaries. We can exist without hiding. And I want to show that this is possible.”
 

Now she is learning Dutch, building new friendships, and discovering a little more about herself every day. “This journey is not just about me, but about all women like me. We are not alone. Nobody is.” For Anya, integrating into Amsterdam culture means enriching her identity with new perspectives, languages, and experiences.
 

“The women who inspire me are 'Hay Aghjikner' (in Armenian, this means 'Armenian girls'), written in the Armenian alphabet: Հայ աղջիկներ. But also the proud mothers who didn't want to hide their identity. What defines me: my vision, my empathy, and my courage.”
 

Anya's story teaches us how migration and adaptation can lead to a multiple identity, whereby someone can develop not one, but several 'feelings of home'.