PS:EUROPE Institute, with the cooperation of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Turkey, has published its latest research report on the perception of asylum-seekers, immigrants and refugees in Turkey and the reasons behind it. Click here to proceed to the report
Tag Archives: Integration
EU-funded health center for migrants opens in Ankara
Via Daily Sabah – A European Union-funded migrant health center has opened in the Turkish capital Ankara, the bloc’s Turkey delegation announced Wednesday.
In a statement, the delegation said that the EU-funded center “opened today to provide health services to refugees in the Altındağ district, where the refugee population density is the highest in Ankara.” Continue reading EU-funded health center for migrants opens in Ankara
Building Markets Report Highlights ‘Another Side to the Story’ on Syrian SMEs in Turkey
Via cidpnsi – The devastating scale of the humanitarian crisis in Syria has internally displaced more than six million people and forced five million more to flee across the border into neighbouring countries. The experiences of these refugees have often been reduced to a single narrative where newcomers are seen as burdens on their host communities. However, a closer look at the capabilities and contributions of Syrian-owned SMEs operating in Turkey reveals ‘another side to the story’. Continue reading Building Markets Report Highlights ‘Another Side to the Story’ on Syrian SMEs in Turkey
Vatandaşlık ve linç arasında – Between citizenship and lynching
The German-Turkish newspaper taz gazete on the public discourse on Syrian refugees in Turkey:
“The initial welcoming culture has long since been replaced by resentments and hate speech. The option of naturalization fuels the discussion on Syrian refugees.
In last week of July, the Turkish parliament received a draft law on the naturalization of migrants, of which especially Syrian refugees would profit. At the same time, hate towards refugees is growing in the Turkish society. In daily life, they are being racially haressed and instrumentalized by politicians according to their political agenda. In re-occuring situations of conflict with the EU, Erdoğan, who normally stages himself as the saviour of the ‘muslim brothers and sisters’, threatens to put all refugees in busses towards Europe.”
The AfroTurks who lost their language
IBW21.org published an insightful reportage about AfroTurks in Turkey:
“While Turkey is home to many ethnic and religious minorities, members of the Afro-Turk community attract immediate attention in big cities, particularly in the wake of the recent refugee crisis, when they have often been mistaken for Eritrean or Somalian refugees trying to get to Europe.
Although some estimates put the number of Afro Turks as high as 100,000, the community remains relatively unknown, especially outside of the Aegean area where many slave families were sent to work on the cotton fields near the port of old Smyrna (modern day Izmir) in the 18th Century, and where many were relocated in the last few decades of the Ottoman Empire.”
Report on “Syrian Refugee Labor” by Turkish Metalworkers’ Union
Via Hurriyet DailyNews – At a time when the number of racist attacks targeting Syrian refugees in Turkey is on the rise, the United Metalworkers’ Union (Birleşik Metal İş Sendikası) issued a report called “Syrian Refugee Labor.” We have thus seen once again how most of the three million Syrian refugees are living under difficult conditions here.
Eight academics from various universities drafted the report. Face to face interviews were conducted with both Turkish and Syrian workers in the textile sector. The result is striking but not unexpected, because we knew that Syrian workers were unregistered and highly underpaid.
The report said 99.6 percent of male Syrian workers and 100 percent of female Syrian workers were unregistered. As an example of the pay gap between Syrian and Turkish workers, the average pay of Syrian women workers corresponds to only half of the average Turkish male worker’s pay. Continue reading →
Prime Minister threatens that all Syrians committing crimes will be deported
Via Hurriyet Daily News – “Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has warned that refugees who commit crimes will be deported from Turkey, amid increasing reports of clashes between Syrians and locals in several parts of the country. Continue reading Prime Minister threatens that all Syrians committing crimes will be deported
Turkish Citizenship should be granted to Syrian Refugees and all other Foreigners!
The Halklarin Köprüsü Derneği (association of bridging people) published a position paper on the debate regarding granting the right to citizenship to Syrian refugees in July 2016. The topic is not current anymore, but we think that the paper contains a lot of important claims and demands.
Click here to read the position paper as PDF
Continue reading Turkish Citizenship should be granted to Syrian Refugees and all other Foreigners!