Millions of people have been obliged to migrate to other countries due to war, oppression and ethnic conflict in their countries of origin. The protection of migrants, asylum policies, and living conditions of those who have been obliged to migrate are becoming some of the most complicated issues in the world in conjunction with international migration.
According to the data reported by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), by the end of 2014, there were approximately 11,699,278 refugees in the world and 42,873,743 people have been forced to migrate because of the oppression and cruelties they suffered in their countries.1
According to the same report, the most significant reason for the increase in the refugee population, which has reached the highest numbers to date since 1994, is the ongoing wars in Syria, Afghanistan, Somali, Iraq and Sudan as well as the conflicts in Kongo and Mali. The war in Syria is highlighted in the report as “the newest key factor of the global forced migration.”2
International migration, especially forced migration, has become a phenomenon jeopardizing the existence, sustainability and development of migration-receiving nation-states, and therefore required to be controlled. This being the case, international migration policies have been especially based on adaptation of migrants and refugees to the destination country of migration. The mgration policies of the nd frontier countries, which have recently been discussed widely once again with the occasion of Syrian refugees struggling to pass into Europe, have proved insustainable because they aim to control the flow of migration and regard migrants and refugees as a population that manipulates economic resources. The recent policies implemented by Europe in order to restrict forced migration have also created a profitable field of operation for human trafficking.
Academic studies criticizing national and international refugee and asylum policies agree that the policies do not take the human factor into consideration adequately. Although policies on international migration and refugees vary from one country to another, they commonly concentrate on controlling borders of nation-states, protecting their citizens and national identities, as well as restricting accomodation, education and health services they provide for refugees (Schuster 2003).
As for Turkey, the first regulatory public document on refugees and asylum-seekers is the settlement law (İskân Kanunu) adopted in 1934. The law is concerned with the domestic settlement of prospective refugee and migration influxes into Turkey, and was prepared from a nationalist standpoint in the nation-state building process. In the law Turkey defined migrants as “individuals of Turkish descent and culture.”
Due to the massive increase in individual asylum-seeking cases, asylum regulations were issued in 1994. This regulation requires applicants who qualify to be refugees or asylum-seekers to make an application to official authorities within 10 days after their arrival; they are therefore supposed to know the law of the destination country they are trying to take refuge in. During the accession negotiations to EU, it had been stated that Turkey should enact laws concerning migration and asylum. However, the definition of a migrant in the 1934 law has been preserved in the new law that went into effect in 2006.
In the 1951 Geneva Convention, the term refugee applies to any person who, “owing to wellfounded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.”
The countries that signed the Geneva Convention adopted the criteria specified within the scope of this definition. The terms refugee and asylum-seeker in the Turkish refugee law have been defined with respect to geographical restrictions, as opposed to the definitions in the international law, although the constitution of the Republic of Turkey has been based on the 1951 Geneva Convention since 1968. Accordingly, Turkey can recognize the status of refugee only for citizens of the member states of the European Council.
The persons coming from countries other than members of the European Council have not been accepted as refugees; thus, the Syrian asylum-seekers have been legally allowed “to stay in Turkey for a reasonable period of time” and they have been granted “the right to temporary asylum until being accepted as refugees by a third country” according to 1994 Regulation on Asylum and Sanctuary. Until they are accepted as refugees by a third country, they are entitled to “temporary protection” and hence allowed to stay in Turkey.3 That is, the Syrian asylum seekers in Turkey have not been able to acquire refugee status due to geographical restrictions in the definition. The current situation, therefore, result in impediments regarding rights and security of the Syrian asylum seekers in Turkey.
The status of the Syrian asylum seekers in Turkey
Pursuing an open door policy for the Syrian asylum seekers, Turkey accepted the Syrians in refugee camps set up near the border crossings. The first group of asylum seekers entered Turkey on April 29, 2011.4 This group of 252 people was first defined as “guests.” Then they were declared to be under “temporary protection” by a circular letter issued by the Prime Minister’s Office in April 2012.5 Thus, in a sense, they are currently hosted with a “guest” status. The main factor in granting such a status is the high number of asylum seekers.6
Within the scope of this legal status, the persons in question are allowed to enter and exit through the border, all their humanitarian requirements are met and they are provided with security. The “temporary protection” referred in the circular letter has been defined in a report by Human Rights Investigation Commission at Grand National Assembly of Turkey within the following specifications:
“Temporary Protection: It is an exceptional procedure employed in a situation where there is a massive influx of people who can not return to their countries of origin or where such a situation is likely to take place immediately, in order to provide urgent and temporary protection especially for the benefit of the persons in question or other persons in need of protection.”7
The above definition neither includes any information concerning rights nor does it specify the scope and limits of “temporary protection.” Although “the Law of Foreigners and International Protection,” enacted on April 4, 2013 and put into effect on April 2014, presents a legal framework to respond the needs and security of the Syrian asylum seekers, it does not prescribe any permanent solution for them to live in conditions with dignity.8 Provision 22 of the regulation prescribes to issue identity certificates for foreigners under temporary protection in order for them to be able to conduct their legal and social affairs. It is prescribed in the regulation that the persons with identity certificates are going to have access to health care, education, the labor market, social aid and services.
The Syrian asylum seekers living outside the camps are not provided with housing. Because the asylum seekers have to rely on themselves to access to housing, they are obliged to live under poor conditions with serious financial handicaps. According to a circular letter on foreigners’ access to education, issued in September 2014 by the Ministry of National Education, the foreigners under temporary protection have been granted access to education in schools supervised by the Provincial Directorate for National Education in each province, and in temporary centers of education. An asylum seeker must have a residence permit, a temporary protection identification certificate or Foreigner’s Credentials to be able to register in schools or temporary centers of education. This condition prevents unrecorded asylum seekers from having access to education. The Syrians who want to attend universities in Turkey must pass the Foreign Students Exam (YÖS) held by the universities.
The asylum seekers have the right to health care but this right is restricted. According to the regulation, the asylum seekers are expected to pay medical fees for organ transplants, prothesis, orthesis, hemodialysis or the long-term treatment of chronic diseases.
Work permits for refugees and asylum seekers in Turkey is subject to the law no 4817, which is the Law on Work Permits of Foreigners. This law states that the work permits of asylum seekers are to be organized by the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, yet it has been declared in the Regulation on Temporary Protection issued on November 2014 that those having temporary protection identification certificates, i.e. the registered refugees, can apply to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (ÇSGB) in order to obtain a work permit in sectors, lines of work and geographical regions to be decided by the Council of Ministers. The ÇSGB declared in February 2015 that they were planning to make certain arrangements concerning the Syrian refugees; nevertheless, the arrangement in question has yet to take effect.
Even though certain arrangements in relation to refugees’ access to basic rights have been done within the framework of the regulation, still the Syrian asylum seekers in Turkey are considered as a temporary crisis/problem rather than being tackled with an approach based on rights and freedoms.
The situation of the Syrian asylum seekers living outside the camps
According to the data released in September 2015 by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the overall number of the Syrian asylum seekers in Turkey is 1,938,999.9 As far as the numbers declared in August by the Ministry of Internal Affairs Migration Department is concerned, 262,134 Syrian and Iraqi asylum seekers live in 25 refugee camps in ten provinces. Because of the crowded camps, limited freedom of movement, and the likelihood of staying in Turkey for a long time, 90% of the Syrian asylum seekers live in urban areas. Most Syrian asylum seekers trying to solve their housing problems with their own resources can hardly afford the rent. Most live with more than one family in poor conditions in small flats. The Syrian asylum seekers I spoke with state that they suffered from the uncertain status they have, not being able to get a job, exploitation of labor, limited access to education, and expensive housing costs. They also make clear that their lives are made difficult in Turkey due to discrimination and racism. They say they would like to go to Europe in order to receive the status and rights they are denied in Turkey, and to make a dignified life for themselves.
The situation of the Syrian asylum seekers who are forced to migrate to neighboring countries due to conflict and war environment in their country was brought to the global agenda after a photo of Alan Kurdî was published on August 2015 as his dead body washed ashore. The discussions of EU member states on the situation of the Syrian asylum seekers, which had been going on for two months, become more about how to protect their borders than being about people-centered discussions. More and more migrants lose their lives in the Mediterrenean Sea each passing day.
According to official figures, in the year 2014, 4077 people lost their lives on the way to Europe while the number has exceeded 1500 in the first quarter of 2015. The tragic stories of migrants who strive to arrive in European countries by dangerous means indicate that states must revise their refugee policies, and produce people-centered policies instead of border protection and security-oriented policies. It is necessary to remind states, which consider refugees a problem or try to obtain material benefits from them, of the fact that there are indeed people escaping from war regions. Sharing stories of refugees is one way to do this.
Furthermore, the countries paving the way for the conditions of war must take the responsibility to help people escaping from war and accept these people in their territory. The EU should start to change its the refugee policy by terminating the Dublin II Agreement that confers greater responsibility on the neighboring countries and causes inequality in the EU.
References
Brookings Enstitüsü ve Uluslararası Stratejik Araştırmalar Kurumu (USAK), ‘Suriyeli Mülteciler Krizi ve Türkiye: Sonu Gelmeyen Misafirlik’, 2013 http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/reports/2013/11/18%20sy…
Çiçekli, B. eds., Göç Terimleri Sözlüğü, Uluslararası Göç Örgütü (IOM), Swiss, 2009.
İltica, uluslararası göç ve vatansızlık: Kuram, gözlem ve politika, UNHCR, 2011, http://www.unhcr.org.tr/uploads/root/i.bölüm.pdf
İnsan hakları ve mazlumlar için dayanışma derneği, Türkiye’de Suriyeli mülteciler İstanbul örneği, 2013. http://istanbul.mazlumder.org/webimage/suriyeli_multeciler_raporu_2013…
Schuster, L. (2003) ‘Common sense or racism? The treatment of asylum-seekers in Europe’, Patterns of Prejudice, 37, 3: 233-256.
TBMM İnsan haklarını inceleme komisyonu, Çadırkentler hakkında inceleme raporu, 2012, https://www.tbmm.gov.tr/komisyon/insanhaklari/docs/2012/raporlar/28_02_…
Uluslararası Stratejik Araştırmalar Kurumu (USAK), ‘Sınırlar arasında yaşam savaşı Suriyeli Mülteciler’, Report No: 13- 04, 2013, http://www.usak.org.tr/images_upload/files/suriyeli%20mülteciler%20film…
UNHCR Global Appeal 2015 Update, http://www.unhcr.org/5461e5ec3c.html
UNHCR Statistical Yearbook 2012, http://www.unhcr.org/52a722c49.html
1 UNHCR Global Appeal 2015 Update, http://www.unhcr.org/5461e5ec3c.html
2 UNHCR Statistical Yearbook 2012, http://www.unhcr.org/52a722c49.html
3 See: İltica, uluslararası göç ve vatansızlık: Kuram, gözlem ve politika UNHCR 2011, p. 47, http://www.unhcr.org.tr/uploads/root/i.bölüm.pdf
4 See: Sınırlar arasında yaşam savaşı Suriyeli Multeciler, Uluslararası Stratejik Araştırmalar Kurumu (USAK) Report No: 13- 04, http://www.usak.org.tr/images_upload/files/suriyeli%20mülteciler%20film…
5 See: İnsan hakları ve mazlumlar için dayanışma derneği, Türkiye’de Suriyeli mülteciler İstanbul örneği http://istanbul.mazlumder.org/webimage/suriyeli_multeciler_raporu_2013…
6 https://www.tbmm.gov.tr/komisyon/insanhaklari/docs/2012/raporlar/28_02_…
7 (Çiçekli, B. eds., Göç Terimleri Sözlüğü, Uluslararası Göç Örgütü (IOM), Swiss, 2009, p. 20).
8 See: Suriyeli Mülteciler Krizi ve Türkiye: Sonu Gelmeyen Misafirlik, November 2013, Brookings Enstitüsü ve Uluslararası Stratejik Araştırmalar Kurumu (USAK), p. 41 http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/reports/2013/11/18%20sy…