Migrants, Emigration,

Refugees
Syrian Refugees in Turkey
 Definitions:
What is migrant?
UN Convention on the Rights of Migrants:
person who is to be engaged, is engaged or has been engaged in a
remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a national.
Important factor in distinguishing migrants and refugees:
"The term 'migrant' in article 1.1 (a) should be understood as covering all cases
where the decision to migrate is taken freely by the individual concerned, for
reasons of 'personal convenience' and without intervention of an external
compelling factor."
 Refugees
A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country
because of persecution, war, or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear
of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or
membership in a particular social group. Most likely, they cannot return
home or are afraid to do so.
 Stateless Person
A stateless person is someone who is not a citizen of any country.
Citizenship is the legal bond between a government and an individual, and
allows for certain political, economic, social and other rights of the
individual, as well as the responsibilities of both government and citizen. A
person can become stateless due to a variety of reasons, including sovereign,
legal, technical or administrative decisions or oversights. The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights underlines that Everyone has the right to a
nationality.
 Asylum Seeker
What is an Asyum Seeker?
When people flee their own country and seek sanctuary in another country,
they apply for asylum the right to be recognized as a refugee and receive
legal protection and material assistance. An asylum seeker must demonstrate
that his or her fear of persecution in his or her home country is well-
founded.
Not a refugee in legal terms and lack the rights of refugees but they are
usually people who applied for the status and waiting their results.
 1951 Refugee Convention
UN Decision on Refugees
The 1951 Geneva Convention is the main international instrument of refugee law.
The Convention clearly spells out who a refugee is and the kind of legal protection,
other assistance and social rights he or she should receive from the countries who
have signed the document. The Convention also defines a refugees obligations to
host governments and certain categories or people, such as war criminals, who do
not qualify for refugee status.
European countries was the center of focus. 1967 Protocol changed it to
acknowledge the displacement processes all around the world.
Syrian Civil War and Its Effects
 Prelude
Due to previous borders in the 19th century a number of Arabic speaking
minority was allready living in Turkey
According to first population cencus of Turkey, made in 1927, about %1 of
the populations mother language was arabic.
Out of 13.648.270 people, 134.273 people were speaking in Arabic and were
mainly living close to borders to modern day Syria.
These numbers could be faulty as most of the time if the people knew
Turkish, their language was recorded as Turkish.
 Prelude
It is hard to determine the number of Arabic descendent people living in Turkey before the
Syrian War.
This is due to population cencuses are prepared only to determine the number of citizens
with only information on sexes, age groups and locations.
Highly changing numbers are given by people who are interested in studying on the matter.
One source recorded the number as 8 million and %11 of the population while another
study determined the number as 2.6 million.
Even in their lowest number it can be said that they are the 3rd biggest ethnic minority in
Turkey.
 Syrian War and Beginning of The Influx
The protests against the Assad Regime started
around March were tried to be put down by use
of force and live bullets.
By july the protests were out of control and
some groups started to take arms against the
government.
In 2 years over 90.000 people had been killed
with above %60 civilian
UN commisions has blamed all warring parties
for commiting war crimes.
 The Influx
While the total number of people are hard to determine as Syrians started to escape
the country with legal documents at the start of the war, collapse of state structure
and the cease of diplomatic relations resulted in impossibility of legal visas.
Thousands of people started to escape the country through illegal means.
With the first official registrations starting at the start of 2012, 8000 people had
escaped the war as refugees within a year the number escalated to half a million.
In another 3 months it reached a million people.
 The Influx
By 2015 the number of refugees outside Syria reached 4 million, while 8 million
more had lost their homes and displaced internally within the wartorn nation.
Summer of 2015 also saw the huge wave of refugees travelling across Balkans
towards central and western Europe. Less than half a million people travelled from
especially Turkey, towards Europe to be able to apply for refugee status.
Around 428,000 Syrian refugees arrived in Europe between April 2011 and August
2015, with 43% of this number hosted by Germany and Serbia, 40% by Sweden,
the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Hungary and Austria, and the remaining 17% divided
between the other 27 countries in Europe.
(The Global Refugee Crises/ITUC Special Briefing)
 Legal Status and Government Expectations
Open Door Policy-Temporary Protection: Since April 2011, in alignment with what
international law and conscience dictates, within the framework of open door policy and
temporary protection policies, Turkey has admitted Syrians who escaped from upheaval
caused by the bloody suppression of the protests opposing the Syrian regime and the
subsequent outbreak of civil war. This policy adheres to the principles of international law,
notably the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Convention of 1951.
Number of Refugees and Duration of Their Stay Could Not Be Predicted During the
Process: At the onset, the anticipated duration of stay for Syrians was 1-2-3 weeks with 50-
100 thousand in number, while now it is protracted day by day. As the upheaval and state of
war continue, further extension of the duration is expected.
 Legal Status
Turkey was one of the drafters and first signatories of the 1951 Refugee
Convention. However, at the time of the ratification of the attendant
Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1968, Turkey opted for the
geographical limitation pursuant to Article 1b of the Convention, limiting
the scope of the Convention to persons who have become refugees as a
result of events occurring in Europe.3/4 Thus, Turkey can only legally
accept European asylum seekers as refugees stricto sensu.
 Legal Issues
Turkey ratified the Protocol on 31 July, 1968. There were only three other
states which opted for this geographical limitation apart from Turkey:
Congo, Madagascar and Monaco. Monaco ratified the 1967 New York
Protocol and while doing so it did not retain the geographical limitation with
a declaration (16 June, 2010). This means Turkey is one of the three
countries in the world which has this limitation among the parties to The
Convention (GoodwinGill 2008: 7)
 Legal Status
On October 22, 2014, the Temporary Protection Regulation was issued. It
pertains to, among other matters, temporary protection proceedings that may
be provided to foreigners, who were forced to leave their countries and are
unable to return to the countries they left and arrived at or crossed our
borders in masses to seek urgent and temporary protection and whose
international protection requests cannot be taken under individual
assessment.
 Current Numbers
Neighboring countries hosts above 4.8 million Syrian refugees.
Current number of refugees in Turkey is above 3.4 million. This makes Turkey the
country hosting the most refugees in the World.
10% of Syrian refugees in Turkey are living in camps where access to basic services
are limited. European comission is provides humanitarian aid especially to
disadvantaged refugees living outside the camps.
Due to the legal status above 200.000 children who born in Turkey does not have
citizenship in any country. They have only legal stay documents in Turkey. Which
essentially means they are stateless persons now.
 Current Numbers

Due to the legal status above 200.000 children who born in Turkey does not
have citizenship in any country. They have only legal stay documents in
Turkey.
In 2014 %53 of the refugees were under 18 years old.
Enrollment stayed around %20 untill 2015. Latest numbers are given as
above %50.
Currently 300.000 Syrian children are studying in Turkey in arabic schools
which maintain Syrian state education system.
 Finances
270.000 refugees, of the above 3 million total, lives in 26 refugee camps
which are regulated and financed by (AFAD) Turkey.
By 2014 4.5 Billion US Dollars had been spent by Turkey.
The latest given figure(Without Details) wass 91 billion TL /21. Billion Euro
EU and EU members finances the Financial Support for Refugees
Program with 3 Billion Euro budget for 2016 and 2017. The program
focuses on humanitarian aid, development support to refugees and hosting
organizations.
 International Reaction

Call from Western World to Turkey: Open Your Doors In The East
Close Them In The West! Western countries expressed sensitivity on the
open doors policy of Turkey. However, it is observed that in the same
western countries, particularly in the European Union, the majority mentality
revolved around open your eastern borders, but always keep the western
ones closed so that they wont come.
 Sources
http://www.anadoluaraplari.com/turkiyede-ucuncu-buyuk-halkin-araplar-oldugu-tescillendi/
http://www.kurucasile.gen.tr/turkiyede-ilk-genel-nufus-sayimi/
http://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/gelenlerin-90-i-donmeyecek-eger-istersem-onlari-
gonderirim-diyemezsiniz-112041.html
Human Rights Watch, Europes Refugee Crisis: An Agenda For Action, 2015.
International Rescue Comittee, The Refugee Crisis in Europe and the Middle East A
Comprehensive Response, 2016
Erdogan, M. Murat, Syrians in Turkey: Social Acceptance and Integration Research, HUGO,
November, 2014.
G20 Summit ITUC Special Briefing, The Global Refugee Crisis, November, 2015.