Turkey is a country of almost 80 million people that borders Greece and Bulgaria to the west, Syria and Iraq to the south, and Iran, Armenia, and Georgia to the east. For obvious reasons, it is traditionally a country that people travel through when migrating by land to Europe. Northern Syria, along the Turkish border, is where a lot of the Syrian war has happened. Da’esh gained power there, so it was the place where Turkish and American troops, as well as Bashar al Assad’s troops fought Da’esh. Aleppo, one of the strongholds of the Syrian civil war is also in the north, as well as Idlib and other places that have been known for almost a decade from news or war and death. As a result, many Northern Syrians were displaced, and many of them fled to Turkey. Turkey hosts around 3.5 million Syrian refugees, making it the country with the largest refugee population. We talk a lot on this podcast about Lebanon’s experience with refugees, mostly because it’s what we know best. Lebanon has the most refugees per capita, but Turkey has the most refugees full stop. It’s much less dramatic in Turkey, which is almost 800 times the size of Lebanon. However, Turkey gets a lot of attention from Europe, and from humanitarian actors who are concerned about the conditions for refugees in Turkey. Turkey is a majority Muslim country, but has a secular state. The father of modern Turkey, Kamal Ataturk is famous for his secular vision of Turkey. Many people have criticised France for banning the hijab in schools, but Turkey has for many years banned the hijab in all public buildings, which includes universities, government buildings, and public libraries. The arrival of more conservative Syrian refugees has led to many tensions in Turkey. These refugees have faced many problems in Turkey. One of these is that Turkey does not recognise them as refugees. Okay this is going to get a little bit technical, bear with us. The definition of a refugee and the rights that are given to refugees are currently determined by a document called the Geneva Convention which was passed in 1951. It’s one of the international agreements that was introduced after the Second World War, to give a formal legal status to the people who were displaced by the war. The Geneva Convention says that a refugee is someone who has a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion. It also gives refugees rights to work, to bring their family, to access education, and to move freely in the territory. However, the Geneva Convention from 1951 was limited to European refugees who fled events happening before 1951, so it wouldn’t be a very useful document today. However, in 1967, another agreement was made that extended the Geneva Convention to the entire world and took away the time limitation. Turkey signed the first Geneva Convention, but not the second agreement. This means that Syrians are not recognised as refugees in Turkey. I’m sorry, I know that was technical but that’s basically why, although Turkey has signed the 1951 Geneva Convention, it doesn’t recognise Syrians as refugees. Turkey has created a temporary protection status for Syrian refugees. This means that they have a legal status, they cannot be returned to Syria, and they have some access to work. However, these rights are much less than refugees get from the Geneva Convention. Firstly, they have to apply for work permits, which can be refused. There are also limitations on how many Syrians a business can hire: they usually cannot be more than 10% of the workforce. They often have restrictions placed on the provinces where they’re able to work and live. The work permits are expensive for employers, so only around 3% of Syrians have a work permit. This means that Syrians are often forced to work illegally, which leaves them vulnerable to exploitation, and being paid below minimum wage. The average wage of Syrians is around half of the minimum wage. As a result, in 2019 64% of Syrians were living close to or below the poverty line. Like in much of the world, this situation has gotten worse since the coronavirus pandemic. There are now many stories of Syrian refugees selling their organs illegally to afford rent and food. On top of the limitations on work, Turkish authorities also stopped registering Syrian refugees in 2018, and there have been many reports of illegal returns to Syria. These returns are illegal because under international law it is forbidden to return someone to a country where they are likely to be killed or subject to persecution. Return in these cases is called refoulement. تركيا بلد عدد سكانه 80 مليون نسمة تقريباً بتحدها اليونان وبلغاريا من الغرب ، سوريا و العراق من الجنوب ، و و أرمينيا و جورجيا من الشرق. لسبب واضح، تركياً بشكل تقليدي بلد الناس بتسافر من خلالوا عند الهجرة عن طريق البر على أوروبا. شمالي سوريا، على طول الحدود التركية ، هو المكان يلي صار في الكثير من الحرب السورية. داعش حصل على السلطة هنيك، فا كان المكان يلي قاتلت فيه القوات الأمريكية و التركية،وكمان قوات بشار الأسد داعش . حلب، وحدة من معاقل الحرب الأهلية بتوقع بالشمال، وكمان إدلب و اماكن أخرى معروفي من عشر سنين (عقد) من الأخبار أو الحرب أو من الموت. نتيجة هذا، نزح العديد من السوريين الشماليين ، وفر الكثير منن على تركيا. تستضيف تركيا 3.5 مليون لاجئ ، يلي بيخليها دولة بتضم أكبر عدد من الاجئين. We talk a lot on this podcast about Lebanon’s experience with refugees, mostly because it’s what we know best. Lebanon has the most refugees per capita, but Turkey has the most refugees full stop. It’s much less dramatic in Turkey, which is almost 800 times the size of Lebanon. However, Turkey gets a lot of attention from Europe, and from humanitarian actors who are concerned about the conditions for refugees in Turkey. تركيا هي دولة ذات غالبية مسلمة، بس هي دولة علمانية. والد تركيا الحديثة مشهور برئيتوا العلمانية لتركيا. العديد من الناس انتقدوا فرنسا لانها حضرت الحجاب بالمدارس، بس تركيا حضرت الحجاب لسنوات عديدة بجميع المباني العامة، يلي بتشمل الجامعات، المباني الحكومية و المكتبات العامة. وصول المزيد من السوريين المحافظين أدى للعديد من التوترات بتركيا. هذول اللاجئيين واجهوا العديد من المشاكل بتركيا. وحدة من هذول المشاكل أنوا تركيا ما عم تعترف فيهن كلاجئيين. Okay this is going to get a little bit technical, bear with us. بيتم تعريف اللاجئين و الحقوق الممنوحة للاجئيين حالياً بواسطة وثيقة أسمها اتفاقية جينيف يلي تمت بسنة 1951. هي وحدة من الإتفاقيات الدولية يلي تم تقديمها بعد الحرب العالمية الثاني، ليعطوا وضع قانوني رسمي للأشخاص يلي شردتن الحرب. تنص إتفاقية جنيف على أنوا اللاجئ عندوا خوف مُبرر من التعرض للإضطهاد لأسباب عرقية أو دينية أو جنسية أو عضوية مجموعة إجتماعية معينة أو رأي سياسي . وكمان الوثيقة بتعطي اللاجئين الحق بالعمل، ليجيبوا عائلاتن، للحصول على التعليم و التنقل بحرية في المنطقة. ومع هذا، بسنة 1967، تم التوصل الى إتفاق أخر مد إتفاقية جينيف للعالم كلوا وشال القيود الزمنية. تركيا وقعت إتفاقية جينيف الأولى ، بس ما وقعت الإتفاقية الثاني. هذا يعني أنوا السوريين مش معترف فيهن كلاجئين بتركيا. I’m sorry, I know that was technical but that’s basically why, although Turkey has signed the 1951 Geneva Convention, it doesn’t recognise Syrians as refugees. تركيا أنشئت وضع حماية مؤقت للاجئين السوريين. هذا بيعني أنو عندن وضع قانوني، ولا يمكن ترجيعن على سوريا، وعندن بعض فرص العمل. مع هذا، هذول الحقوق أقل بكثير من الحقوق يلي بيحصل عليها اللاجئين من إتفاقية جنيف. أولاً، لازم يقدموا على طلب تصاريح عمل ن يلي ممكن رفضها. كمان في قيود على عدد السوريين يلي يمكن للشركة توظيفن ، عادتاً ما فيهن يكونوا أكثر من 10% من القوى العاملة. غالباً بتفرض قيود على المحافظات يلي فيهن يشتغلوا ويعيشوا فيها. تصاريح العمل غالي كثير بالنسبة لصاحبين العمل، فا بس حويلة 3% من السوريين عندن تصاريح عمل. هذا بيعني أنو السوريين مجبورين على الشغل بطريقة غير قانونية، هذا يلي بيجعلن عرضة للإستغلال وبياخذوا رواتب أقل من الحد الأدنى للأجور. متوسط رواتب السوريين حوالي نص الحد الأدنى للأجور. ونتيجة هذا، بسنة 2019 كان 64% من السوريين بيعيشوا بالقرب من خط الفقر أو تحتوا. مثل ما هو الحال بمعظم أنحاء العالم ، زاد الوضع سوءاً من وقت تفشي فايروس كورونا. في هلق العديد من القصص عن اللاجئين السوريين يلي عم بيبيعوا أعضائن بشكل غير قانوني ليشتروا الأكل ويدفعوا الأجار. فوق القيود المفروضة على الشغل، وقفت السلطات التركية تسجيل اللاجئين بسنة 2018 ، وكان في العديد من التقارير عن عمليات إعادة اللاجئين الغير قانونية على سوريا. هذه الإعادات غير قانونية لأن بموجب القانون الدولي يُمنع إعادة أي شخص على دولة محتمل أن يُقتل فيها أو يتعرض للإضطهاد. العودة في هذه الحالات تسمى الإعادة القسرية.
2 Comments
rümeysa açıkgöz
4/11/2020 06:34:33 pm
Hello.i listened your episode from Turkey. I should say that Turkey has accepted 4 million refugees. How do you expect to give all that rights to all of them ? Turkey is not a rich country but still Turkiye didn't let Syrians die. There could be some improvements about rights but you focused only bad things about it. It is sad.
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Ben Sharpley
15/2/2021 11:39:24 pm
Refugees and immigrants don't have to be a burden. Most want to work and contribute to society just like everyone else. In the UK immigrants tend to pay more in taxes than British nationals so even if we ignore humanitarian concerns, immigration brings economic benefits! Turkey is a very different case from the UK but the point is that the more the state does to help them integrate and access work/education etc then the more refugees can contribute to the new society.
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