Child refugees in Turkey making clothes for UK shops

BBC – Syrian refugee children have been making clothes for British shoppers, an undercover BBC investigation has found. All the brands say they carefully monitor their supply chains and do not tolerate the exploitation of refugees or children. One of the refugees told Panorama they were poorly treated at the factory. He said: “If anything happens to a Syrian, they will throw him away like a piece of cloth.”

UNHCR concern over the return of 10 Syrian asylum-seekers from Greece

UNHCR – UNHCR is seriously concerned by the return of Syrian nationals from Greece to Turkey. According to the information we have received, a group of 91 people arrived on the island of Milos on 9 October. On October 14th, the group was subsequently transferred to a Reception and Identification Centre on the island of Leros, where they formally expressed to the responsible authorities their will to seek asylum in Greece. Among the group were 10 Syrian nationals who were transferred to Kos and subsequently readmitted by plane to Adana, Turkey without due consideration of their asylum claims.

EU disburses 467 million euros for Syrian refugees in Turkey

Hurriyet Daily News – The European Union announced on Oct. 17 the dispersal of 467 million of 3 billion euros in aid that has been pledged for over 3 million refugees living in Turkey.  “The total amount of funding allocated under the Facility [for Refugees in Turkey] now stands at over 2.2 billion euros, with over 1.2 billion euros already awarded via concrete contracts,” said Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, in a letter on the progress of the implementation of the funding. “Of this, 467 million euros has been disbursed to the implementing partners,” he said.

Debit-card aid seen insufficient for refugees in Turkey

MB – As many as one million refugees, or one third of those being sheltered across Turkey, will have pre-paid debit cards as part of the European Union’s multi-million-euro aid package. NGOs in Turkey welcomed this project with cautious optimism, arguing it is “insufficient” to cope with the refugees’ social and economic integration into local communities.

Refugees as Peons in Foreign Policy: Turkey, the EU and Reflections of Lasker and Nimzowitsch

Article by Nicolas Parent originally published for IN/WORDS MAGAZINE & PRESS

New York, 1927 – Edward Lasker and Aron Nimzowitsch, two of the greatest minds in chess at the time, went head to head in an off-hand game. At that time, smoking was almost synergetic with chess playing. Nimzowitsch, however, had a severe allergy to smoke and records show that he often requested tournament directors and ombudsmen to enforce a no smoking rule during game play. Lasker, on the other hand, was notorious for his strategy of ‘smoking out’ his opponents, typically burning cheap cigars with an unbearably foul scent. Before this specific match, Lasker agreed not to smoke whilst playing against Nimzowitsch. However, mid-game, Lasker pulled out a cigar and laid it on the table. Nimzowitsch furiously acalled upon the tournament director to intervene, but this was to no avail as Lasker had yet to light the cigar. Dissatisfied, Nimzowitsch responded by saying “(…) but he is threatening to smoke, and as an old player you must know that the threat is stronger than the execution” (Winter, 2015).

Albeit the comical exchange, a similar narrative has developed in respect to what European political circles and newspapers have called a ‘migration crisis’. Continue reading Refugees as Peons in Foreign Policy: Turkey, the EU and Reflections of Lasker and Nimzowitsch