All posts by harekact

Hope, Resilience and Uncertainty: A Day with Displaced Syrians in Southern Turkey

The conversations that figure in this text took place in October 2015 during a 18-months field research that extended from June 2014 to April 2016.

“Look! All the paths are closed!” Hanan says pointing at the drawings the coffee left in her cup. “There is no opening… This is not a good sign!” she continues while turning the small white coffee cup in her hands. It is early morning, Hanan and I are the only ones awake in the flat. The children are still asleep on the floor of the living room, where we are sitting drinking our morning coffee, and reading our future. Hanan has been obsessed with coffee reading for the last couple of weeks as she is looking for signs and answers about her future. Will she stay in Turkey? Will she go back to her parents’ village in Syria? Or will she cross to Europe? In this morning cup, rather than giving a possible direction, the coffee just shows that the future is dark and with no much hope. Continue reading Hope, Resilience and Uncertainty: A Day with Displaced Syrians in Southern Turkey

Loss and everyday life on the Syrian-Turkish border

The conversations that figure in this text took place in the summer and autumn 2015 during a 18-months field research that extended from June 2014 to April 2016.

What does loss mean for Syrians living in Southern Turkey in the aftermath of the 2011 revolution and in the midst of an ongoing war? How is this loss experienced, and how does it affect Syrians’ everyday in Turkey? Those are some of the questions I looked at during my PhD’s fieldwork (June 2014 – April 2016) among Syrians in the city of (Gazi)Antep. The loss experienced by Syrians can be defined as polymorphic. It is before all the loss of Syria: the loss of one’s home and homeland. The loss was also recounted as the loss of one’s past, one’s former life, the loss of relatives, of kinship ties and networks. Yet, Syrians’ loss is also the loss of a political project, of their revolution and the subsequent loss of one’s revolutionary self. Continue reading Loss and everyday life on the Syrian-Turkish border

Thousands of refugees on Greek islands risk losing vital services as charities prepare to withdraw

Via The Independent – Thousands of refugees in Greece are at risk of losing vital support as charities prepare to withdraw services from camps on the country’s “hotspot” islands, as changes to EU funding are set to leave them out of contract by the end of July.

The Greek government will take over funding and managing support services to the camps on 31 July, but aid organisations fear the prospect of a “humanitarian gap” resulting from a poorly planned transition.

Clashes erupt in Istanbul between Turks and migrants whose lives remain on hold

Via Los Angeles Times – Turkish authorities on May 16 detained more than 300 undocumented migrantsin Istanbul’s Sultanciftligi neighborhood — mostly from Pakistan and Afghanistan — after Turkish nationals and migrants clashed, resulting in the death of a Turkish man allegedly killed by an Afghan migrant.

It’s the latest outbreak of violence between migrants and locals in Turkey in the wake of simmering tensions. Human rights groups say Turkey has fast become an unsafe country for millions of migrants and refugees seeking to resettle in Europe.

Over 300 Afghans and Syrians evacuated from Istanbul neighborhood after killing of local

Via Hurriyet Daily News – Over 300 people of Afghan and Syrian origin were evacuated from an Istanbul neighborhood on May 16 amid rising tension after the killing of a local man by a foreign resident on May 14, Doğan News agency has reported. They will now be sent to migrant camps in different provinces across Turkey.

Ramazan Şahin, 24, was killed during a brawl between locals and migrants in the İsmetpaşa neighborhood of the Sultangazi district, after which riot police intervened with water cannon and tear gas against a group protesting the killing.

Read the whole article here

Racist provocation in Sultangazi: 16 refugees injured and 116 in custody awaiting deportation

Via Yeryüzü postasi (Link in Turkish) – After three days of racist attacks and lynching of refugees in Istanbul’s Sultangazi İsmetpaşa district, the police has arrested 116 refugees. They are going to be deported.

Ramazan Şahin lost his life during the attacks from Turkish citizens towards Afghan and Syrian refugees on sunday. The racist mob claimed that the refugees had “talked to girls” and used this statement as an excuse for lynching an Afghan migrant after the funeral prayer. Since sunday racist groups continued attacking refugees in Sultangazi. At least 16 refugees were wounded so far.

Solidarity crowdfunding campaigns for dismissed Academics for Peace

With the crackdown on the Turkish academies launched since the beginning of 2016, 452 Academics for Peace have been dismissed from their jobs or forced to resign and retire. These academics did not only loose their jobs but they are also stripped of the civil rights and virtually banned from getting re-employed in the private sector as well.

Several organizations including Unions are trying to put together funds to make up for lost incomes, help living costs as well as legal costs. As HarekAct, we are in support with the Academics for Peace and would like to disseminate the information about two crowfunding campaigns as follows:

Continue reading Solidarity crowdfunding campaigns for dismissed Academics for Peace

Greece: Between Deterrence & Integration

Via Refugees DeeplyDaniel Howden, journalist and senior editor at Refugees Deeply, writes about the current situation on refugees in Greece and the impacts of EU-Turkey deal. He provides a detailed and vivid account on more than 50,000 refugees and migrants stranded within Greece’s borders. For Howden, policies that segregate the refugees from the host population and the absence of integration schemes create a gloomy atmosphere of deterrence, where the Greek state tries to ignore the situation by hoping that the problem “will vanish by itself”.

Abstract from the borderline-europe newsletter on HarekAct

borderline-europe published a part about HarekAct and the developments of the last two month regarding the Turkish migration regime and the EU-Turkey Deal in their last newsletter. We translated it into English. Read the German version below.

Last July, we already presented the collective blog project HarekAct, which bordermonitoring.eu, GAR, kritnet, Mülteci-Der and borderline-europe maintain in collaboration. The blog has been online now for almost one year and is presenting critical and up-to-date information and analyses about the European-Turkish border regime, focussing on the migration collaboration between the EU and Turkey as well as on the realities of life of refugees and migrants in Turkey. Continue reading Abstract from the borderline-europe newsletter on HarekAct