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6/14/2017 Fleeing Turkey: Calls on Syrian Youth not to immigrate

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Fleeing Turkey: Calls onSyrian Youth not toimmigrate

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29/11/2015 || IN-DEPTH

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November 29, 2015

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It seems nothing can stop Syrians from boardingdeath-boats and immigrating to Europe through theAegean Sea. It is possible they are right in choosingimmigration to Europe in spite of dangers on the roadand the possibility of death whether traveling on landor through the sea. The situation in Syria is gettingworse every day and the number of Syrian immigrantshas increased especially those coming from HamaCountryside, Idlib Province, and Aleppo, places whereRussian warplanes have been striking civilians andopposition forces since last September.

Syrians in TurkeyTurkey adopted an “Open Door” policy since fouryears and thus far received approximately two millionSyrians, now live near the Syrian-Turkish borders andin other Turkish cities. Syrians found in Turkey whatthey lost because of the war. The Turkish governmentoffered facilitations to reduce difficulty of living in adifferent society with a different language. Thelanguage barrier is considered the most prominentchallenge facing Syrians in Turkey since the outbreakof the revolution.

Social actors and active civil organizations in Turkishborder cities helped facilitate integrating Syrians inTurkish society benefiting from mutual ties andsimilar traditions between Turks and Syrians.

Al-Arabi Aljadid news website published the results ofa survey conducted by Turkish Red Crescent in SanliUrfa (a Turkish city near the Syrian border) betweenJanuary and February 2015. 78% of the 327 Syrianssurveyed stated they neither want to leave Turkey,even if they had a chance to travel to any othercountry, nor return to Syria. The report indicated thatthe average income of the Syrian family living in

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Turkey is between 20 and 29 Turkish Liras daily whichequals 10 U.S. dollars and each household paysbetween 200-500 Turkish Liras for rent in Sanli Urfa.

The number of Syrians living in Turkey is estimated tobe around 1.8 million. Only 11% of Syrians live inrefugee camps and the rest live outside the camps indifferent Turkish cities. Istanbul is ranked first inhosting the biggest number of Syrians followed bySanli Urfa, Gaziantep and Hatay district in southern ofTurkey.

Nevertheless, a major change took place a couple ofmonths after the survey was conducted. Syriansstarted immigrating and crossing the sea in search fora place to settle in after they suffered from difficultiesof living in Syria’s neighbouring countries. Europestarted receiving Syrian refugees and refugees fromother nationalities claiming to be Syrian nationals inorder to take advantage of the benefits Syrians receivein Europe, since asylum is granted for Syrian nationalsupon arrival in any country of the 27 European Unioncountries, in addition to housing, protection,education, and other benefits.

These benefits offered to Syrians arriving in Europeled to a booming in human trafficking both by landand sea smuggling roads which were filled withrefugees facing very hard conditions traveling throughborders, forests, train stations, leading to overoccupation of refugee camps. However, attitudestoward refugees’ influx to Europe changed fastbecause of the big numbers coming and the claim byEuropean countries that the numbers are beyond theircapacity.



Fleeing Turkey: Calls on Syrian Youth not to immig…

Turkey is better than EuropeThe change in attitude towards Syrian refugees in

Europe caused many Syrians in Turkey to rethink

about the idea of immigration after seeing what

happened to their fellow refugees who made it Europe,

specifically the delay in assignment to camps which

led some refugees to sleep in parks, sports halls, or

even on the streets. Add to that the challenge Syrians

faced due to lack of proper documentation. All of this

led Syrians in Turkey and other countries to ask

themselves: Is immigration to Europe worth the

financial and emotional risk.

Tarek (25), a young Syrian, who works in one of the

Syrian restaurants in Istanbul, totally rejects the idea

of immigrating to Europe. He witnessed and saw what

happened to his friends. He is financially settled



because of his job and he neither thinks of changing

his job nor of moving to any other country.

Ahmad (21), who has just arrived in Germany a month

ago, shares the details of his journey through Greece,

Macedonia to Croatia until reaching Germany. He said

he did not imagine it would be this hard. Despite the

cold weather, he had to sleep on the streets with his

travel mates whom he met on the boat. “I am not

settled yet. I did not register to obtain the residency. I

have been sleeping in a basketball hall for months. I

paid three thousand dollars to reach Berlin. I think of

returning to Turkey and moving on with my life

there,” he added.

Ahmad asserts there are many young Syrians who are

leaving Europe and returning to Turkey due to feeling

desperate about settling there.

Employers are looking for employees inTurkeyThe Syrian youth migration from Turkey to Europe has

affected Syrian business owners, capital investors,

craftsmen, and traders trying to re-establish their

businesses in Turkey. Those Syrian business owners

found Turkey to be a fertile ground for investment,

especially in Turkish cities where most Syrians

relocated. Some invested in real estate while others

invested in restaurants, services, and other sectors.

Those employers are struggling to find Syrian skilled

labour in various sectors despite the great exodus of

Syrian young men. The reason is that Syrian youth

consider Turkey a transit country from which they

move to Europe. This has led to their inability of

sustaining any employment in Turkey.



Abu Ziyad is a Syrian restaurant manager in Istanbul.“I do not know why young men immigrate to Europespecifically. I think Syrians are living well here, and wehire Syrians, but we struggle to keep our youngemployees because they leave the job and we aresurprised of how much they dream about going toEurope,” he said.

Abu Ziyad could not keep an employee in theShawarma (famous Middle Eastern dish) sectionbecause all employees have immigrated to Europe.Therefore, Abu Ziyad advertised for the job with anote saying, “We want an employee who does notwant to immigrate to Europe.”

Jihad al-Ahdab, owner of a grocery company, toldEnab Baladi that most Syrians struggle withgovernment procedures related to authorization toestablish businesses in all sectors because tourist andinvestor residency permits are not easy to obtain.

He as an investor in Turkey had to go through aregistration process that lasted for two years in orderto obtain a residence permit and an authorization toestablish his business, however, he was not grantedwork permit yet.

He adds: “it is not easy to get a work permit in Turkey.Most Syrians struggle with this issue and that is whyyou find a lot of Syrians working illegally.” Al-Ahdabconsiders the language barrier and the high cost ofliving in Turkey to be top reasons for why Syrianlabour immigrates to Europe.

Muaaz, another restaurant owner in Istanbul, callsupon Syrian youth to consider before leaving Turkey.He said: “One day we will return to Syria. In fact, I donot think about immigrating to Europe although I can



afford the trip cost. Europe and Germany specificallyare not heavens and learning their languages is not aneasy thing to do.” He calls upon Syrian youth not toimmigrate to Europe because many young menreached Europe and then returned to Turkey becausethey found it difficult to integrate and adjust in theEuropean societies.

Syrian investors were ranked first among foreigninvestors in Turkey. Syrian investors made up 25.5% ofmost companies established. Around 1131 Syriansestablished new companies last year in a value of 32.8million dollars.

According to Al-Arabi Al-Jadid newspaper, data fromthe Federation of Chambers of Commerce and StockExchanges in Turkey showed a 18.12% increase in thesize of companies founded in Turkey during the firsthalf of 2015.

The number of established companies increased from29.7 thousand last year to 35 thousand companies thisyear. Syrian businessmen established most of thesecompanies. One of three foreign companiesestablished in Turkey is Syrian. Furthermore, thenumber of companies in which Syrian capital isinvested during the first half of 2015 is 238 companies.Hence, the number of Syrian companies in Turkeymore than doubled.

Collective FleeThroughout the summer of 2015, Europe witnessedhuge influx of Syrians and Iraqi refugees comingthrough Greece. The United Nations stated in a reportthat Syrian immigrants presented more than 270thousand asylum applications to European states.“This is the biggest refugee population from a single



conflict in a generation. It is a population that

deserves the support of the world but is instead living

in dire conditions and sinking deeper into abject

poverty,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees

António Guterres.

“Worsening conditions are driving growing numbers

towards Europe and further afield, but the

overwhelming majority remain in the region,”

Guterres added. “We cannot afford to let them and the

communities hosting them slide further into

desperation.”

The UN Refugee Agency faces difficulties due to lack

of funding to cover Syrian needs. The organization

and its partners requested a sum of 5.5 billion U.S.

dollars for the year 2015 for humanitarian aid,

however, only a quarter of the sum was acquired.

According to UNHCR, “This means that refugees will

face an additional cut and interruption of food aid

which will make them struggle to cover medical

services’ expenses that saves their lives and struggle

to send their children to school.”

Russian Airstrikes Increase Numbers ofRefugeesRussia started launching air strikes against “terrorist”

targets at the end of last September 2015. Russia’s

targets were ISIS and al-Nusra Front. The Syrian

armed opposition accused Moscow of shelling its

forces. The violence caused by the airstrikes which

targeted civilians led to an increase in Syrian exodus

towards Turkey. The UN registered more than 24

thousand refugees last June coming to Turkey from

northern Syria and Tell Abyad, a town in Raqqa

governorate.



Therefore, the increase in violence and the Russian

intervention and International coalition airstrikes, in

addition to fervent battles between Syrian regime and

opposition forces, have all caused growing numbers of

Syrians to flee Syria and take refuge in Turkey and

Europe.

Syrians seeking refuge in Europe usually go to certain

countries hoping for a fast reunion with their families

and because of the quality of medical and educational

services in these countries. A recent report published

in 2015 by the Democratic Republic Studies Centre

revealed the reason of increased Syrian asylum

applications specifically in Germany and Sweden. “It

is because of the presence of family members and

relatives in those two countries who explained the

asylum advantages for the new immigrants. Those

families also wanted a reunion with their families

(new immigrants) in the European Union.”

The report also states that “On the other hand,

Sweden is ranked first in the number of asylum

applications because it adopts a facilitation policy

towards refugees and offers tempting advantages for

refugees that entails empowering refugees and

integrating them in Swedish society.”

As for Asylum applications in Germany, there are

facilitations for Syrian refugees in providing care,

rights, and humanitarian protection. Also, Germany

accepts all asylum applicants even those who have

registered in other European countries as part of its

policy of providing facilitations for asylum seekers and

illegal immigrants.

According to the Democratic Republic Studies Centre

report, Syrian children migrating to Europe using sea



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boats make up to 20% of migrating families. On the

other hand, minors without a guardian make up to

3.5% of the total migrating children from all

nationalities. Also, Syria is ranked second following

Afghanistan in the total number of nationalities who

arrived to Italy through Mediterranean in 2014.

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fleeing turkey- calls on syrian youth not to immigrate · 6/14/2017 fleeing turkey: calls on syrian...

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