Page 129 - Syrians in Türkiye - Special Report

GRAND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF TÜRKİYE THE OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTION

In addition to the study carried out under the leadership of DGMM and AFAD, the
Ministry of Family and Social Policy, the Ministry of National Education, the Ministry
of Health, and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security have also been actively
involved in the refugee crisis. Although it was not possible to develop and coordinate
an integrated policy as it is often expressed in this report, each public institution had to
make significant legislative and institutional changes in its internal structure for Syrian
refugees. Since the activities carried out and the services provided to Syrians are handled
by different ministries and institutions, it is impossible to gather all related executive
units under a single roof. However, as can be seen from the list in Appendix II of this
report, ministries and other public institutions have taken initiative and assigned some
of the units that existed before 2011 to work on this subject, and some departments
have been re-structured to work exclusively on Syrian refugees, especially after 2015.
It is obvious that it was not possible to be prepared in advance for the influx of Syrians
into Türkiye. As noted above, a country that received 8,932 international protection
applications in 2010, and where the total number of refugees reached 3.5 million by
2017 could not be prepared for such a crisis. The process has essentially become “the
fastest way to intervene in the crisis” and Türkiye has achieved a great deal of success in
this regard. However, the development of crisis management in the form of “temporary”
and “emergency intervention” left mid- and long-term planning aside. As it is known, the
most important problem in crisis management is that the process cannot be predicted
and or sometimes even controlled. However, the need for the development of a general
strategy and coordination on the Syrian crisis, which is now in its seventh year, clearly
manifests itself.

This report, “Syrians in Türkiye,” was prepared by a team of experts using the
information support of the relevant public institutions, meetings held with
the representatives of non-governmental organizations operating in the field, and
evaluation of field observations. This study, which has shown great changes not only in
a numerical sense but also in content and future perceptions of the issue of Syrians in
Türkiye, intended to establish the role of the Ombudsman Institution of the Republic
of Türkiye as a national conscience and advocate and the responsibility of being a
constitutional institution. Even though the findings and the policy recommendations
revealed with the expectation to contribute to a general strategy are structured partially
for specific, private institutions and areas, they suggest building an integrated policy. In
this context, the following general and specific findings and policy recommendations
have been set out based on the research, data obtained from public institutions, and
field visits conducted by the Ombudsman Institution.

SYRIANS IN TÜRKİYE SPECIAL REPORT 129