Tag Archives: Citizenship

HarekAct Reporting, News Digest

HarekAct’s Weekly Digest 10/06/2019

3rd – 9th June

Closure of Camps at the Syrian Border | Anti-Syrian Sentiments | Tuberculosis Outbreak in a Camp near the Iranian-Armenian Border | Turkey grants residence permits to members of Turkic communities | Story on the Harmandalı Removal Center around Izmir | On Turkishness in Germany | EU published annual report on Turkey

News & Reports

Closure of Camps at the Syrian Border

Throughout our most recent news digests we have been reporting on the ongoing closure of refugee camps on the Turkish border with Syria. Al-Monitor has provided the latest numbers in an article on why Turkey is closing down the camps: Several camps in Gaziantep, Adiyaman and Kilis have already been closed, while Turkey’s largest camp, located in Suruç, is supposed to close on June 23. Around 30,000 Syrian refugees have left the camp so far since April. Of the total 21 camps, which hosted approximately 300,000 Syrians, only 13 camps are left open, accommodating around 120,000 refugees at the moment.

Continue reading HarekAct’s Weekly Digest 10/06/2019 →
HarekAct Reporting, News Digest

HarekAct’s Weekly Digest 26/03/2019

Racism against Syrians in local elections | Malpractice in police custody against Iranians | A graveyard for Syrians in Izmir | Claims for a birthright citizenship in Turkey | Critical perspectives on the EU-Turkey deal | Calls for giving a voice to refugees/migrants

News&Reports

Local elections on March 31 and racism

Kristina Jovanovski reports for NBC News about increasing racist sentiments against the Syrian population in Turkey. According to her report, Turkish people are blaming Syrians for higher job competition and are complaining about increasing cultural differences. Syrian people interviewed by the author report that they are facing racism on a regular basis, increasing their feelings of insecurity in Turkey. Both members of the AKP and the CHP have publicly called for a return of all Syrians to Syria during their respective election campaigning. Omar Kadkoy of Tepav think tank (The Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey) sees them as a “convenient scapegoat” and argues that it is the low number of job permits granted by the government which is responsible for employers being able to pay Syrians less in informal employment, “feeding into perceptions that Syrians are stealing jobs and lowering wages”.

Continue reading HarekAct’s Weekly Digest 26/03/2019 →
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

Turkish interior minister states the number of citizenships granted to Syrian refugees

Following the outrage over Syrians celebrating the new year in Istanbul, the Turkish interior minister gave an extensive interview to journalist Kübra Par. While trying to ease the xenophobic sentiments by denying myths about Syrians, such as “they are being accepted to universities without examination”, “they don’t have to wait in lines in the hospitals” or “they are given free public housing”, Minister Soylu also promotes a cultural and moral perspective on Syrians that highlights a historicized imagination of brotherhood of religion and being in arms. Minister Soylu also provides some significant data on Syrians. He says that 294,000 have returned to Syria, 65,000 have been granted work permits, 76,443 have been granted citizenship, and 645,000 children have been integrated into public education system. The full interview can be read in Turkish via HaberTurk. Below is a link to a brief report by the News Tribe, based on the same interview.

source: Haber Turk
Continue reading Turkish interior minister states the number of citizenships granted to Syrian refugees →
News Digest

Born in Turkey: Syrian children face uncertain future in new homeland

Migrant kids born in Turkey is a crucial and growing topic. 385,431 babies born to Syrian parents in Turkey between April 2011 and November 2018, according to official statistics. As mentioned in the report below many problems and risks emerge in this area: such as the the discriminative treatment migrant mothers face that may turn violent and traumatic during the labour, not having access to public hospitals (being refused, or being charged high prices) and therefore having to give birth in improper conditions, having difficulties to register the kids, and to receive health-care, education and other social services later on.

Via MEE, Ayse Karabat

Almost half of the 3.5 million Syrians in Turkey are children, according to UNICEF (AFP)

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Sham’s start in life was not easy.

“I was in labour. I was in pain, lying in the hospital bed, but the midwives did not help me,” recalls her mother Kawthar Muhammet, a Syrian now living in Turkey who uses the Turkish spelling of her last name, Mohammed. “They said to me, ‘You’re fleeing war and having sex?’ They called me names that I don’t want to repeat. They abandoned me.

This article was originally published by MEE.

News Digest

Syrian refugees in Turkey and the changing concept of Turkish citizenship

Via Middle East Monitor – Granting citizenship to Syrians in Turkey is a topic of discussion today more than ever before. So far, more than 50,000 Syrians have acquired Turkish citizenship. This has ignited debates among the Turkish public, primarily due to the provocative media coverage of the topic and increasing nationalism in Turkey.

This opinion piece was published by Middle East Monitor

News Digest

“More than 300 000 ‘stateless’ Syrian babies born in Turkey should be granted citizenship immediately”

Via Refugee News Turkey – Some 311,000 babies of Syrian origin have been born in Turkey under the stateless status, according to the Turkish Parliament’s Refugee Subcommittee that operates under the Human Rights Committee.

The subcommittee’s president Atay Uslu said the situation is a “humanitarian plight.” Continue reading “More than 300 000 ‘stateless’ Syrian babies born in Turkey should be granted citizenship immediately” →

News Digest

On the issue of Turkish citizenship for Syrians

During summer 2016 the Turkish government first announced to grant Turkish citizenship to some Syrians. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said that the first steps have been taking on providing Turkish citizenship to Syrians. In a first stage 30.000 to 40.000 would be granted citizenship, in a move that could grant a total of 300.000 Syrians citizenship.

Continue reading On the issue of Turkish citizenship for Syrians →

News Digest

Report to the Turkish Parliament: A lost generation of Syrian ‘haymatlos’ children

Via Hürriyet (link in Turkish) – The Refugee Rights Commission of the Turkish Parliament explains that since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, 276.000 Syrian babies born in Turkey stay in an ‚haymatlos‘[1] status and thus face a risky future with neither Turkish nor Syrian identification papers. By the end of September 2017, the number of Syrian babies born in Turkey was at 276.158 and the details of the report are as follows.

Continue reading Report to the Turkish Parliament: A lost generation of Syrian ‘haymatlos’ children →

News Digest

AA: “Turkey processing citizenship for 50,000 Syrians, interior ministry official says”

State-run Anadolu Ajensi reports that Turkey will grand citizenship to around 50,000 Syrians living in Turkey according to an Interior Ministry official:

Via Hurriyet Daily News – “Speaking in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, Interior Ministry General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs manager Sinan Güner told the agency the process of granting citizenship had already begun. Continue reading AA: “Turkey processing citizenship for 50,000 Syrians, interior ministry official says” →