Syrians Must Have Refugee Status First

Click to read the article in Turkish

Support to Life Foundation has responded to racist and segregationist arguments targeting Syrians following Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s statement about granting citizenship to Syrians.

The foundation calling on everyone to leave discourses which cause social tension also has urged authorities in charge to actualize policies and discourses that avoid social polarisation.

The foundation had pointed out that in the war causing 250.000 deaths according to United Nations (UN) and 400.000 according to observer organisations on the field, 12 million people have been displaced which almost equals to half of the population, 5 million people have had to immigrate to peripheral countries. The foundation has also underlined that among 5 million people who have migrated, three million have migrated to Turkey and that Turkey was not prepared for this refugee crisis.

“Turkey was unprepared”

“While hosting Syrians as ‘guests’, Turkey has granted them a special status called ‘temporarily protection’. Thus Syrians who have left their country have been granted the right of ‘temporarily’ access to social services in terms of humanitarian aid. Turkey which has imposed a geographic limitation to Geneva Convention and only has agreed only to entitle people who came from Europe to ‘refugee status’. Because of that Syrians were not able to even make an application for asylum.

“The war that became more intensified has caused this temporary visit to become much and much longer. The struggle for survival in a different country has gained new meanings such as working unsecured and undeclared in the shadow sector, being considered as low cost work force, child labour, abuse and being excluded.”

Major priority is “refugee status”

Support to Life Foundation has pointed out that concrete steps must be taken immediately to clarify the legal status of Syrians and said that the first priority is to grant Syrians refugee status.

Syrians must be considered as “prima facie”

The foundation has claimed that Syrians who have been suffering from lack of residence permit, have only limited access to the work permit and couldn’t benefit from social services efficiently had to be considered as  refugees “prima facie”*by the state of Turkey and thus benefit from refugee protection in accordance with the international law.

Foundation also has also underlined that the terms of acquiring citizenship for Syrians had to  be purged from ambiguity, comply with the present legal frame and determined within knowledge of public opinion.

Support to Life Foundation

Support to Life (STL) is a humanitarian aid agency founded with the principal objective of working with communities to help them meet their basic needs and rights.

Emergency relief aid is provided impartially in response to humanitarian crises with a focus on laying the foundations for rehabilitation, reconstruction and participatory development.  Disaster preparedness and disaster risk reduction are important components of STL's mission..(EA/UA)

* A prima facie approach means the recognition by a State or UNHCR of refugee status on the basis of readily apparent, objective circumstances in the country of origin or, in the case of stateless asylumseekers, their country of former habitual residence. A prima facie approach acknowledges that those fleeing these circumstances are at risk of harm that brings them within the applicable refugee definition. (Source: UNHCR: http://www.unhcr.org/558a62299.html  )