03 July 2024 12:30
Attacks on Syrians began in several provinces following allegations that a child had been molested in Kayseri. The government's immigration policy, based on the demand for cheap labour, is putting both Turkish and Syrian workers under strain.
Nisa Sude DEMİREL
İSTANBUL
Last Sunday in the Turkish city of Kayseri, homes and shops in refugee neighbourhoods were attacked after a Syrian man was accused of molesting a child. The attacks were simultaneous and spread to different provinces the next day. Small and large groups attacked workplaces and homes in refugee neighbourhoods in Hatay, Adana, Bursa, Gaziantep, Istanbul, Konya, Şanlıurfa, Antalya and Kilis. Slogans such as "Turkey belongs to the Turks, it will remain Turkish" and "I don't want refugees in my country" were chanted. In Gaziantep, Syrians were unable to open their shops the next day after the attacks. Dozens of Syrian shops were looted and many videos of refugees being beaten were shared on social media.
While officials at various levels issued statements against allowing provocations, the Minister of Interior announced that "149 people smugglers have been caught. 42 were arrested. 21 are under judicial supervision. Proceedings are underway against the others. In addition, 2,563 irregular migrants were detained. Hundreds of people involved in attacks on refugees have also been arrested.
The recent attacks in Kayseri are not the first against refugees. Refugees are often targeted and blamed for various economic and social problems, and stoked anger turns into attacks against them. In 2014, two Syrian agricultural workers were stabbed to death in Tarsus, Mersin. In 2019, a group making the Grey Wolf salute attacked an attempted protest in Istanbul by various mass organisations demanding the deportation of migrants. Also in 2019, in the İkitelli neighbourhood of Istanbul's Küçükçekmece district, the alleged harassment of a child by an unknown person turned into an attempted lynching of Syrians. The International Refugee Rights Association announced after an investigation that there had been no attempt at harassment. In 2021, three refugee workers were murdered by being burned to death in their home in İzmir's Güzelbahçe, with the perpetrator claiming that his aim was to 'cleanse the country of migrants'. Also in 2021, after an 18-year-old youth died in a brawl between a group of Syrian refugees and Turkish youths in the Altındağ district of Ankara, homes and shops belonging to Syrians were attacked for days.
According to official data from the Directorate General of Migration Management of the Ministry of Interior, there are 1,107,532 immigrants with residence permits in Turkey. 3,113,478 Syrians are under temporary protection. According to unofficial figures, there are more than six million immigrants, including four million Syrians. Refugees make up about 7% of the Turkish population. Turkey's immigration policy, based primarily on the demand for cheap labour, also fluctuates in order to 'suppress' social reaction.
In order to prevent the mass migration triggered by the civil war in Syria from reaching Europe, the European Union (EU) implemented a policy that effectively turned Turkey into an open-air prison for migrants. In 2013, the Readmission Agreement was signed between the Turkish government and the EU. This agreement committed Turkey to take back migrants who had reached Europe. For Turkey, the agreement meant turning the country into a 'migrant depot', receiving €6 billion in financial support from the EU through various projects, and providing millions of workers to work cheaply and insecurely.
Following these agreements, Turkey received €9.8 billion for the period 2021-2027 under the EU Presidency's Asylum and Migration Fund programme. The 'Facility for Refugees in Turkey' (FRIT), created in 2015, and additional funding from various EU member states, provided 6 billion euros. FRIT has pledged a further €1 billion to Turkey in 2024.
The Turkish government does not provide concrete information on how the billions of euros from the EU are spent. However, it is clear that these funds are not being spent on the integration and humanitarian needs of migrants. EU auditors also state that they could not determine whether the funds had any impact on helping Syrian refugees. The European Court of Auditors also reported that the Ministry of National Education refused to provide information on the projects. In August 2023, the European Court of Auditors announced that it had asked the ministry to return €8.4 million, but the ministry refused.
According to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the total number of refugees with work permits in Turkey is 168,103, of whom 91,500 are Syrians. It is estimated that millions of refugees work informally. According to the report of the Workers' Health and Safety Assembly (İSİG), 834 migrant workers died in work-related accidents in the last ten years. On average, 83 migrant workers die every year. In the first five months of 2024, 25 migrant workers died in accidents at work.
The government's policy of viewing refugees as collateral for EU funds and cheap labour, combined with opposition parties' portrayal of refugees as the source of economic and social problems, has inevitably led to racist reactions against refugees.
Since 2019, when the 'fate' of refugees began to oscillate between the satisfaction of capital groups with 'cheap labour' and the government's pre-election predicament, the government has taken some measures by setting up mobile inspection points. As the 2023 general election approached, the balance between capital's demand for cheap labour and social reaction became clear; the rhetoric of "controlled repatriation" was intensified:
The 2023 parliamentary elections have not changed the situation. As the World Bank loans show, the EU's main objective is to ensure that the refugees stay in Turkey. Turkey's aim is to benefit from these loans and keep alive the source of cheap labour that capital needs.
The Labour Party's (EMEP) Migration Office, which visited citizens and migrants in Kayseri, also gave its assessment to Evrensel and called for a joint struggle of migrants and local workers:
"The AKP, which defines itself as an actor in Syria's internal affairs, employs millions of refugees under the cheapest and most insecure conditions. Refugees are condemned to a 'bat life', afraid to go to work.
While Turkish workers struggle with debt due to government policies, they also feel the daily threat of unemployment. In this shortage, employers use Syrian workers as a threat against local workers.
The confrontation between the local workers and the migrant workers is orchestrated by those who want to make the country a part of the imperialist wars and benefit from these wars. The statements and actions of the bourgeois opposition, which incite hatred and polarisation, push millions of refugees and local workers into the fire.
Those who turn Turkey into a waiting room should be responsible for this darkness and should be the targets of the anger. If we do not fight together against those who make us compete in poverty, this darkness will not only engulf the refugees but all the workers.
Assoc. Prof. Didem Danış, a member of the Migration Studies Association (GAR) and a faculty member of the Sociology Department at Galatasaray University, assessed the state of migration policy for our newspaper:
"While anti-refugee sentiment is growing both in society and on social media, the failure of political power to make a reassuring statement about the presence of migrants in the country or to convince society of its ambiguous policies is one of the sources of the problem. Add to this the anger and despair caused by the economic crisis, and you have a reaction that leads to physical violence. If the police had not intervened, we could have seen a massacre like the one in Sivas, the anniversary of which we are commemorating today.
There is also a reflection of these events on the refugee side. For millions of Syrians fleeing the war, this place is no longer safe. Many have nowhere else to go. Contrary to what is being said, Syria does not offer a suitable environment for return. All these events increase the sense of entrapment and futurelessness among Syrians. Like Turkish youth, Syrian youth feel hopeless and angry about the future. I am afraid that the seeds of a suburban youth similar to that in France are being sown.
Yusuf Karadaş
Aydin Çubukçu
Yücel Özdemir