Atrocities in Syria and the status of Syrian refugees in Turkey

Photographs smuggled out of Syria earlier this year and released by an international team of lawyers purported to illustrate the systematic and widespread torture used by the Syrian regime against its opponents. They will be recorded in the history of the Middle East as evidence of the time when “fear of Allah” was lost in a supposedly Muslim society. The pictures showed skeletal human beings who had been starved deliberately; they remind us of the grainy photos of Jews in the Nazi concentration camps which stand as monuments of shame in human history. The main difference between Syria and, say, Auschwitz, is that the Syrian victims bore signs of severe torture on their emaciated bodies.

There is no doubt that there are atrocities being carried out in Syria at the moment. Not only are prisoners being tortured and starved to death, but there are also hundreds of civilians being killed by so-called barrel bombs and slaughtered by the Syrian army and Islamic groups each day. People are starving to death in Yarmouk refugee camp where around 20,000 Palestinians are besieged. Diseases are spreading and infantile paralysis is becoming more common.

Today, millions of Syrians are refugees as a result of the civil war in their country. According to the UN, the number of internally displaced people has reached 6.5 million; more than 2.5 million have crossed the borders into neighbouring countries. Most Syrian refugees, almost one million, in fact, are in Lebanon. Turkey is hosting around 650,000 while in Jordan there are 585,000. The rest are dispersed in Iraq (227,000) and Egypt (135,000). According to local reports, Turkey’s provision for the refugees compares well with that elsewhere. It has to be appreciated that the government in Ankara has welcomed Syrian refugees from day one with refugee camps complete with health and social facilities. Apart from the camp facilities, all Syrians have access to free health care across Turkey.

It is also important to point out that from the beginning of the civil war Turkish society has, in general, welcomed Syrian refugees with support in many ways. It is reasonable to claim that the welcome afforded by Turkish society to the Syrians stems from its collectivist social structure based on the common belief system of Islam. As such, Syrians have been able to disperse to almost every part of Turkey; the locals have been happy to rent property to them and share furniture with the newcomers. Many local NGOs and ordinary people are involved in helping destitute refugee families with food and clothing.

However, it is also true to say, and most unfortunate, that humanitarian aid has not reached all of the refugees in need, particularly those who are not recorded officially and do not have residence permits yet. Apart from that bureaucratic problem, rather than being systematic a lot of aid is dependent on the financial capabilities of local organisations, individuals and civil society. As their own limited funds run out, the Syrian refugees have difficulty in paying for rent and food. Sometimes up to 20 people are crammed into unsuitable accommodation due to the inability to pay for proper housing.

Aside from economic difficulties, another complication for the Syrians is the education of their children. Regular education is provided in refugee camps but only around 10 per cent attend schools, most of which are teaching in the Arabic language and employ Syrian teachers. It is rare for Syrians with a Turkish residence permit to send their children to a state school despite the fact that there are no length of settlement requirements to benefit from the education on offer. There are many opportunities for higher education. Although there is some confusion about the recognition of diplomas and certification between the host and home country, Syrian students are given special status which makes them exempt from some examinations that Turkish citizens would normally be required to sit.

An important issue for Syrian refugees is the need to obtain permission for temporary residence as they need to have official documentation such as a passport or identity card; there is also a prohibitively high fee for the permit, which costs $90 for an adult plus $25 for a translation. Hence, there are plenty of Syrians who have passports but can’t apply for residence. It does not seem fair and right to charge people who have fled from their homes with no advance warning or time to prepare properly. Why should we make life even more difficult for people who are willing to be recorded officially in their new status?

Displaced Syrians are described as refugees by the UN and by the other host countries but not by Turkey. There they were described initially as “guests”, but since October 2011, following a large influx of refugees crossing the border into Turkey, they were switched to “temporary protected status” according to the 2001 European directive on temporary protection. This status fits and functions best for Syrians who reside in the refugee camps (around 217,000 according to official statistics) since they receive aid regularly from the Presidency of Disaster & Emergency Management (AFAD) which is the institution mainly responsible for providing facilities for refugees. However, Syrians who stay outside the camps and live in the cities do not benefit economically from this status.

Today, Syrian refugees do not have permission to work in Turkey. Many of them use their meagre savings for daily expenditure. Unless new funding sources are found it is easy to predict that these savings will melt away very quickly. Whether they have savings or not, the Syrians in Turkey need to work in order to live. Apart from obstacles such as the Turkish language, local discrimination and other matters, being employed unofficially makes it very difficult for them. Those who have a job are paid half the wage that would be paid to a Turkish citizen. Such “unofficial” workers are thus open to exploitation by employers and their fellow employees.

Last year, Turkey introduced a new law which regulates and brings new rights for immigrants and refugees. The Foreigners and International Protection Law will come into force in April and provides those defined as refugees or categorised under secondary protection with the right to work in Turkey. With no end to the conflict in sight, it is reasonable to expect that Syrian refugees are going to be in Turkey for some time, so they have no option but to become part of the labour force in order to earn a living. As such, it is important for them to be granted refugee status or permission to work legally so that the younger generation is not sucked into the shadowy world of unofficial and therefore illegal activities just to put food on the table.

Ihsan Cetin is a scholar at Cukurova University in Turkey. [email protected]

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.