Page 148 - Syrians in Türkiye - Special Report

GRAND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF TÜRKİYE THE OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTION

local community notices and criticizes aspects such as the behavior of many suburban
refugees such as cultural differences and the failure to comply with traffic rules,
disruptions in public services, the rise of rental costs, informal labor, and begging. For
this situation, in general, perceptions play a dominant role. It will not be surprising that
all of this increases the potential for tension and conflict in society. For example, even if
99% of the Syrians live harmoniously with the local community, it is possible for negative
reactions to emerge, such as wrongs committed by 1% being extended to all Syrians.
Similarly, due to an image created by a small proportion in a population exceeding 3.4
million participating in begging, the label has caused problems. It is necessary for the
establishment of a peaceful common life to avoid practices and statements that would
increase social tensions. An important issue is to prevent the Syrian population from
being humiliated. We do not expect that all of the Syrians who escaped from the war
will appreciate and be happy for the support and sacrifices of the Turkish society. It is a
necessity for both our humanity and our country to develop the mechanisms in which
Syrians who have escaped from trauma and have not had access to education and work
opportunities, will live honorable lives. Otherwise, the accumulation of possible anger
may lead to serious problems after a while.

In the context of security risks, some of the issues mentioned in the previous paragraph
were also observed during the study visits. Within the scope of this, we have learned
that the local people who live in the border regions near Syria were worried about
losing their jobs due to the Syrians, finding affordable housing, and experiencing delays
in the delivery of health services due to crowded hospitals. In addition to this, there is
a growing perception among the local people that Syrians disturb the peace; however,
contrary to rumors that Syrians disobey the rule of law, the rate of judicial incidents in
which the Syrians were involved was low. Judicial cases usually originate from hostility
among themselves, and Syrians are the plaintiffs in most judicial cases. In this context,
it is extremely important for the public to be properly informed in order to avoid such
negative perceptions and possible tensions and security risks.

In addition to these security concerns, as stated in the section entitled “Registration
Process” above, we learned during our visits that before the registration of the Syrians
institutions such as EGM, the Gendarmerie, and MİT may not always be able to
complete the security investigations within 30 days. For this reason, some Syrians
are pre-registered and placed in TACs, and during this period some others live freely
outside of the camps. This situation contains some important risks; therefore, in order
to expedite the process, the number of the personal needs to be increased, and even if
the security checks will take longer, some necessary precautions need to be taken and
the people whose investigations have not been completed yet need to be monitored.

148 SYRIANS IN TÜRKİYE SPECIAL REPORT