Tag Archives: Migrant Labour

Invisibly stuck and in limbo: An ethnography of the case of irregular Latin American migrants in Turkey

“The last thing we lose is hope and as a saying goes: those who persevere, triumph” 

Robin, Istanbul; November 2019

* Spanish version below / versión en español abajo

by Gianmaria Lenti (Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City, Mexico) & Bernardo López Marín (La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia)

This anthropological study focuses on the experiences and realities of Latin American migrants who are stuck in Turkey in irregular situation. They represent a large, but virtually invisible population due to their absence in official statistics and migration studies, although their arrival to the country is not a new trend. The majority of them have had their rights undermined and are exposed to abuse, difficulties and deprivation as a result of their irregular immigration status. Some of them find it hard to get jobs or, become the cheap labor that underpins the capitalist system of labor exploitation. Many Latin Americans migrants refrain from seeking help from the humanitarian system, since many of them do not know their rights, only speak Spanish, come from disadvantaged social strata or never achieved a higher educational level. Moreover, many humanitarian organizations deny them access to certain services for fear of reprisals from the authorities as a result of their irregular status. 

Continue reading Invisibly stuck and in limbo: An ethnography of the case of irregular Latin American migrants in Turkey

The Politics of Colliding Worlds in Zeytinburnu

Written by Helen Mackreath

Zeytinburnu district in Istanbul hosts many different life circumstances, constraints and possibilities which collide in uneven, fragmented often contradictory ways. It has been home to a substantial Afghan population since 1983, when the Turkish government invited in a few hundred people during the conflict with the Soviet Union, mainly the Turkmen and Uzbek Afghans who Turkey considers ‘ethnic brothers’. Today the population is a mix of migrants (recent, first and second generation) including Afghans, Turkmen, Uighurs, Kazaks, Tajiks, Iranians, Pakistanis and Syrians, economic migrants from other parts of Turkey (Adana, Urfa, Trabzon, Konya), and Turkish citizens who have been living in the neighbourhood for many decades. The bowels of the street to the sky are marked by capital transactions, which create counterposing lifestyles existing side-by-side. The steady erection of luxury sea-view million lira apartment blocks are intended to attract Arab investors to the area (a $250k property purchase buys you a Turkish passport, and while Iraqis are currently the country’s biggest investors, these buildings in Zeytinburnu, one emlakçı (estate agent) told us, are being aimed at Gulf investors). They are being constructed alongside unstable infrastructure constructed illegally in the 1970s where multiple families now live together, and others of migrant dormitories where beds are rented per hour. According to another Afghan emlakçı working there, “Normally if an apartment rent is 1200 (TL), it costs 1500-1700 (TL) for them [foreigners] because two families, between 10 and 12 people, will stay in one apartment [2 + 1 apartment for five people].” Below the street, visible in vents and airways along the gutters, the clicks of textile machines signal the exploited, mainly migrant, workforce.

Before the introduction of city-wide municipality regulations in June 2019 which stated that 75 percent of street signs had to be in Turkish there were many Farsi and Arabic letters lining the streets, which have now been removed; images of Afghan style haircuts, food (huge Afghan melons are imported by air, sold for 60 Turkish lira), Afghan and Turkmen flags still remain visible. According to the Mukhtar of Nuri Paşa neighbourhood, one within the district, there are “Afghan, Uighur lokantas, Syrian bakkals and market. The butcher in front of us is Afghan. If you go down the street there are Afghan Uighur restaurants. If you exit Çarşamba Pazar there are Syrian real estate agents, bakkals and grocery stores. There are all kinds of trade, they usually shop from each other.” The Mukhtar invokes the idea of a cosmopolitan and harmonious community. But global structural tendencies are also intruding into the space, through capitalism, the businesses which have been created by repercussions of global migration management regimes (from smuggling to humanitarian), the internalisation of different visions of hospitality, belonging, nationalism, and the increasing insecurity and anxiety prompted by the heightened deportations which had started to intensify in the weeks around the time of the interviews in mid September 2019.

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HarekAct’s Weekly Digest 08/07/2019

2nd-8th of July

Governorship of Istanbul aim to limit Arabic Signs | Interior Minister Vows Increased Control over Syrians and Irregular Migrants | Spotlight on Anti-Syrian discourse in Istanbul and Turkey | Public Perception on Refugees based on Political Affiliation | Why does the Istanbul Convention Matter for Refugee Women and Girls?

Governorship of Istanbul aim to limit Arabic Signs:
Turkish authorities inspected 730 places of business with Arabic shop signs in Istanbul’s three districts between 15 June and 1 July. The governor’s office stated that the inspections will continue to include all of Istanbul’s 39 districts, and they’re aiming to ensure that signs have 75 percent of their content in Turkish and 25 percent in other languages within a short period of time ( see more in Turkish, in English) – 03.07.2019

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HarekAct’s Weekly Digest 17/06/2019

10th – 16th June

photo credit: Deportation Monitoring Aegean

Seven drown in migrant boat sinking off coast of Lesvos | Five migrant workers die due to fire outbreak in textile factory | Turkey deports asylum-seeker whose life is feared to be in danger | Beach ban on Syrians during Ramadan break | Allegations against another NGO working with migrants and refugees in Turkey | Critical Perspectives on EU-Turkey Deal and the myths around it

News&Reports

Seven drown in migrant boat sinking off coast of Lesvos : Ekathimerini reported last Tuesday on migrants drowning while trying to reach the Greek island of Lesvos from Turkey’s shores. The boat was reportedly carrying more than 60 people when it sank. – 11.06.2019

Five migrant workers die due to fire outbreak in textile factory: The fire took place in Akpınar Textile’s factory in Çayırova district of Kocaeli, leaving 5 dead, 3 of whom were Syrian, and 1 Afghan. Health and Safety Labour Watch Turkey (ISIG) reported that many of the factories had migrant workers to work particularly during the 10-day Ramadan break, when workers with Turkish origin are officially on leave. Migrant workers also had to stay in the factory during that period. – 11.06.2019

Continue reading HarekAct’s Weekly Digest 17/06/2019

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’s Weekly Digest 14/05/19

7th-13th May

Detentions of irregular migrants in Turkey | Situations in the Aegean Sea | Push-Backs from Greece | Working conditions in Turkey | New wall at Turkish-Syrian border | Afghan entrepreneurs in Esenyurt, Istanbul

Perspectives

Numbers & Media Coverage of Detentions of Irregular Migrants in Turkey

Birgün has reported on the figures released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of numbers of migrants in Turkey. According to the reports, in the first four months of 2019 (January until April) the numbers of migrants crossing to the Greek islands decreased by 17.6 percent compared to the previous year. Further, a total of 79,002 migrants – among which were 32,942 Afghans, 11,691 Pakistanis and 6,432 Syrians – were arrested during the same period. The internal ministry reports that the number of detentions decreased by 2.44 percent, while the number of deportation increased by 34 percent compared to the same period in 2018. The Turkish Interior Ministry recorded a total of 268,000 arrests of irregular migrants in 2018.

Continue reading HarekAct’s Weekly Digest 14/05/19

HarekAct’s Weekly Digest 30/04/2019

25th – 30th April 2019

Harassment, sexual assault or violent threats towards LGBTI and women refugees across Turkey | Crossing to EU through Cyprus | Child abuse case sparks feelings of insecurity in multi-ethnic neighborhood | Syrian seasonal workers exploited between multinational companies and Turkish middlemen | On exile but with the spirit of “Arab spring” in Istanbul | Arbitrary procedure of detention on arrival to Lesvos

News&Reports

LGBTI refugees are calling on the UK Home Office to take immediate steps, as they continue to live in fear of homophobic violence in Turkey: Fifteen LGBT Syrian refugees are launching a legal challenge against the UK Home Office claiming they have been abandoned to a life of danger in Turkey, despite promises of being quickly brought to safety in the UK. Although they were accepted to a refugee resettlement scheme by the Home Office, they have been waiting for more than two years to be resettled, and are forced to live in hiding as a result. See more – 15.04.2019

Policeman’s Sentence for Sexually Assaulting an Uzbek Woman Reduced due to ‘Good Behavior’: For sexually assaulting a migrant woman from Uzbekistan in a police car in October 2018, the police officer Ş.Ş has been sentenced to 18 years, yet the sentence was reduced to 15 considering the “stance and behavior of the defendant in the hearings”. Four other officers were also under trial for the incident. The court acquitted one of them, and the other three have been sentenced to 7 months and 15 days in prison for “not reporting an offense” as public officers. See more – 26.04.2019

Continue reading HarekAct’s Weekly Digest 30/04/2019

HarekAct’s Weekly Digest 02/04/2019

25th – 31st March 2019

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New Report on Migrant Workers | 5 Afghans died in fire in Ankara | 6 people died in shipwrecks in the Aegean | Election campaigns fuel Racist Discourses | New Report on Syrians Women’s perspectives on Life in Turkey

News&Reports

Ankara based ISIG (Health and Safety Labour Watch, Turkey) have released their report on refugee workers in Ankara. The turkish-language report finds that wages for migrant workers begin from 200 TL weekly but vary according to age and working experience. Child labourers earn around 20 TL per day in gathering recycling materials and up to 250 TL per week in furniture workshops. After five Syrian workers died in a fire in January, their employer offered 30,000 TL to their families in compensation, which they did not accept. The families, who have to live off around 300 TL per week since losing their breadwinners, have started legal procedures against the employer. Just last week again, 5 Afghan workers died when the abandoned building in an industrial area they were living in outside of Ankara, caught fire. They had been collecting paper and other garbage for around 50 TL a day, working for around 16-17 hours for 7 days of the week. We hope to follow up on this topic further on HarekAct.

Continue reading HarekAct’s Weekly Digest 02/04/2019

HarekAct Newsletter VII – October 2018-February 2019

HIGHLIGHTS ON HAREKACT

In November 2018, HarekAct was invited to participate on Istanbul’s Açık Radyo (Open Radio) program called Hamişden Sesler (Voices from Hamisch), where our editorial board member Pelin had the chance to explain the motives and intentions of HarekAct (in Turkish). In December 2018, HarekAct closely followed the ongoing court case into the murder of Nigerian national Festus Okey, which was reopened after 11 years. Pelin Çakır wrote an extensive article for HarekAct about the murder, the legal pitfalls in the case and how the case was reopened following a long struggle by Festus‘ comrades and supporters who did not cease to demand justice for him. We also published a summary of media coverage of the case and a joint solidarity statement, released by a coalition of several groups of activists and human rights organizations.

Continue reading HarekAct Newsletter VII – October 2018-February 2019

HarekAct’s Weekly Digest 04/03/2019

Talks on ‘safe zone’///Ongoing return discourse///Arbitrary deportations///Migrant labour/// Municipal-level responses to refugees


News&Reports:

Photo: AFP

U.S. delegation visited Turkey presumably to discuss the Syrian “safe zone”: After Trump reversed his decision to fully withdraw from Syria with the continued presence of about 400 US troops, the meeting was expected to discuss the stalled talks concerning a safe zone across the border in Northern Syria, an issue which the two sides have divergent views on, according to some sources.  Trump’s senior adviser Kushner’s three-hour meeting with Erdogan ended without an official statement. – 27.02.2019

Continue reading HarekAct’s Weekly Digest 04/03/2019