“Nefes” Centre for migrant survivors of ill-treatment

The Helsinki Citizens' Assembly prepared leaflets for refugees providing general information on the legal framework applicable to them during their stay in Turkey, their rights and freedoms as well as contact information of public institutions and some civil societyorganizations in Hatay, Kilis, Antep, Urfa, Mardin, Diyarbakir and Batman where they may receive help. 

It can be said that an important pillar of civil society activities relating to refugees is to contribute to helping refugees overcome adaptation problems they face in their daily life. That was the point of departure of our publication "Inventory Study on Adaptation of Syrian Refugees to Civil Life in Turkey". We hope that this report, which presents the results of the field survey conducted by Emine Uçak Erdogan and Kemal Vural Tarlan, will provide a modest road map to the organizations working on the ground. 

Syrians arriving en mass since 2011 have become part of daily life in Turkey. Their unprecedented number living outside camps has necessitated ‘civil society’ to respond, forced to fill the vacuum of assistance left by a government which has mainly focused its support on those who are in camps. Our one year research project, conducted in four cities across Turkey (Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Gaziantep), aimed to understand how civil society is responding to Syrians in the country.

We, civil societyorganizations, have been watching with concern the recent attacks and lynching attempts targeting Syrian refugees in some cities, especially in Gaziantep. We believe it is necessary to take the following actions as soon as possible to ensure the security of nearly 2 million Syrian refugees who fled the war and bombings in their country to take refuge in Turkey.