Tag Archives: Anti-migrant violence

HarekAct Reporting, News Digest

Harek Act’s Weekly News Digest 26/02/2019

We introduce you to our new weekly news digest on migration, asylum and border issues primarily in Turkey as well as on the general European context as far as it is connected to Turkey.

Anti-Migrant Violence and Discrimination///Exploitation///Border Region///Broader Discourse///Numbers///Further Information

Anti-migrant violence and discrimination

  • After mass attacks against the Syrian community in the Esenyurt district of Istanbul on the 9 February, reported here, the anti-Syrian attacks are continuing. Four masked individuals raided into the house of a Syrian family in Sultangazi, Istanbul. Among seven people living in the house, one was severely injured after being shot in the head.
  • Seven Syrian families living in the Artuklu neighborhood of Mardin were threatened with letters posted at their doors, three of which also had a bullet placed next to them, Evrensel reports. The letters read: “Respectful landlord, if you don’t leave the house in 10 days, a bomb attack will be organized. This is your first warning, the second one will hurt someone. We don’t want you in this neighborhood.”
Continue reading Harek Act’s Weekly News Digest 26/02/2019 →
HarekAct Reporting

Mass Aggression against Syrian community in Esenyurt, Istanbul

A fight between two groups quickly turned into a mass assault on the Syrian community in the Esenyurt District of Istanbul on 9 February. A mass crowd chanted xenophobic slogans on the streets where many Syrians live and own small shops. Despite the extensive aggression and damage to Syrian shops, no measures were taken against Turkish citizens, while three Syrians were arrested. In their published report on the incident, IHD (Human Rights Association) pointed to the temporary protection status of Syrians as accelerating their insecure position, and called on authorities to take the necessary measures to stop future racist aggression.

Continue reading Mass Aggression against Syrian community in Esenyurt, Istanbul →
News Digest

Representation of Refugees in the Media in the AKP Era

Gece sokakta Suriyeli avına çıkıldı

Via Hâlâ Gazeteciyiz – This Study by Funda Cantek and Cavidan Soykan traces notions as movement of Turkey-bound migration, the conditions of migrants who have settled in various cities in Turkey temporarily or permanently and their relationship with the local inhabitants, Turkey’s migration policy, and incidents in which migrants were presented as victims or perpetrators by browsing the dailies Sözcü, Hürriyet and Yeni Akit from the beginning of AKP rule in 2002 up to now.

The Turkish version is available here.

Continue reading Representation of Refugees in the Media in the AKP Era →
News Digest

A Syrian family was attacked in Gaziantep: 1 child lost his life

A syrian family living in Gaziantep’ was attacked at home by unknown people. While mother and her two children got heavily injured, 15 year old Hanen Elalevi lost his life. The incidence took place at Vatan neighborhood of Gaziantep, the family members were found by the father being hit with a heavy object to their heads.

photo: Duvar

Read the full article in Turkish via Duvar

News Digest

Police rape uzbek woman in istanbul, she was refused permission to denounce the case at station

According to public prosecutor of Istanbul’s indictment, on 15 October, a taxi carrying a 27 year-old Uzbek woman was stopped by police officers Ş.Ş and İ.K. Afterwards she was taken in the police car, detained for 3-4 hours in the car, raped by the officer Ş.Ş, her 1400 turkish liras were seized and she was finally dropped in the Yedikule area.

Afterwards when she went to the police station in Aksaray in order to denounce the case she was returned by the officer Y.S who said “He is already regretful like a dog, I’ll give him the necessary punishment. Now you go and take a shower, take a good rest, and forget about this, won’t worry”

Polis otosunda tecavüz
photo: DHA

The next day, a friend of the rape victim went to the police station and other police officers who were informed of the case brought the complaint to the public prosecution. On 17th of October, police officers Ş.Ş and İ.K were arrested, the other three officers who did not take legal actions on the complaint were released.

Read the full article in Turkish at Sputnik News

News Digest

Syrian War Refugees Have ‘No Place Anymore’ as Turkey Pushes Them to Return Home

Molly O’Toole covers the complexity of a life between displacement and return for Syrian refugees in Turkey for Newsweek. Collating stories of several Syrian interviewees, the article highlights the challenges regarding the flight to Turkey, living conditions with severe barriers to registration, education, work and health, as well as the expectations on resettlement despite the rising discourse of ‘return’:

FE_Syrian Refugees_01_USE AS BANNER
Baraah Jajah, left, with her son Louai, 3, from Hama, Syria, at a tent camp in Reyhanli inhabited by Syrians, most of whom are agricultural workers. Photograph by Jodi Hilton

“The refugees face a no-win situation: If they return to Assad’s Syria, they risk conscription, disappearance and sectarian retribution, as well as an utter lack of basic services and opportunity. If they stay in Turkey, they face chronic uncertainty and destitution, as domestic and international politics turn against them.”

This article was originally published by Newsweek.

News Digest

Greece: Violent Pushbacks at Turkey Border

Human Rights Watch published a report on 18th of December (see the full report in English, Turkish or Greek) regarding the violent push-backs commited by Greek law enforcement officers at the land border with Turkey in the northeastern Evros region. While the officers in some cases were said to use violence and often confiscate and destroy the migrants’ belongings, HRW urged the Greek authorities to cease summary returns to Turkey, investigate abuses, and hold those responsible to account.

Via The Guardian

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released footage of men bearing prominent scars on their backs as it accused Greek police of inflicting beatings on migrants and asylum seekers illicitly entering the country across the land border from Turkey.

This article was originally published by the Guardian. Find the full text of the HRW report here.

HarekAct Reporting

Festus Okey: a long road to justice

Due to the reopening of the case of Festus Okey last week, Pelin Çakir summarizes and comments on the murder and its contexts for HarekAct

Photo: Reyan Tuvi

by Pelin Çakır

Festus Okey, was born in 1975, in the Abia state of Nigeria, one of eleven children born to a farming couple. His brother Tochukwu migrated to South Africa to support his family in their poverty, but told Festus that conditions were very bad there, leading Festus to come to Istanbul instead in 2005. He worked in temporary jobs and played football with amateur teams in the so-called African league of Istanbul, a league which gives hope to many African young men to be discovered by the agents of professional football teams and therefore become a reputed player. His friends were calling him Okute. By coincidence, he appeared in an independent documentary which reported on the league, firstly recorded while running in the field, then unexpectedly during his funeral (how his murder was initially acknowledged by the press).

It wasn’t easy to escape the police’s ‘attention’ as a black man in Istanbul. The first time he was arrested by police for being undocumented, and kept for several months in Kumkapı detention center until he managed to file an asylum application to the UNHCR. On the early evening of 20 August 2007, Festus Okey and his friend Mamina Oga were stopped by an undercover police officer in the central Beyoğlu area of Istanbul. The police officer later described how they were apprehended with the following words “black persons and citizens from the East draw more attention with respect to narcotics”. Continue reading Festus Okey: a long road to justice →

News Digest

Bloomberg reports on the intolerance to migrants in the Southeastern Towns of Turkey

Selcan Hacaoglu takes on the rising anti-migrant sentiments against Syrians at the border towns of Turkey for Bloomberg Businessweek . The text involves some stigmatizing language, on which a critical reflection remains missing. Still we are posting here, since it also gives a glimpse of Syrians’ incorporation into different sectors of labour market.

A camp for displaced people in Kafr Lusin near the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey on April 1, 2018. Photographer: Ibrahim Yasouf/AFP via Getty Images

By Selcan Hacaoglu

As warplanes bombed his Syrian hometown of Aleppo, factory-owner Amer Hadri stepped on the gas pedal of his silver BMW 5 series and made for the safety of Turkey.

Via Bloomberg Businessweek