Page 56 - Syrians in Türkiye - Special Report

GRAND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF TÜRKİYE THE OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTION

2015, which at first offered services in Turkish, English, Arabic, and Russian, and the
telephone information line that started service in the German and Persian languages
35
as of April 1, 2016. The YIMER-157 line, which provides continuous service in 6
languages 7 days a week and 24 hours a day, also provides indirect translation service for
36
foreigners to communicate with law enforcement units when necessary. The number
of people calling this line is increasing daily. The YIMER-157 line receives 2,987 calls
a day on average. 37

A total of 570 translators were recruited for 22 TACs established by AFAD in 10
provinces; according to information from the Ministry of Health, the need for
translators in the Ministry’s headquarters and affiliated health facilities is supported by
international organizations (World Health Organization, UNHCR, etc.) under AFAD
and IPA projects. The need for translators is also met by purchasing services in hospitals,
as a result the Ministry has no tenured staff working for translation. In the scope of the
“Grant Project” prepared with the EU, a total of 960 bilingual (Arabic-Turkish) patient
guidance staff and 202 patient routing (translator) staff were hired. 164 of them were
hired to work in Public Hospital Authority central and provincial locations, and 38
were employed in Public Health Department central and provincial locations.

(Source: Anadolu News Agency)
35 YIMER 157 (accessed August 8, 2017); available from http://yimer.gov.tr/.
36 Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Türkiye, Türkiye Migration Report 2015. Directorate General of
Migration Management Publications, Edition No: 35, (Ankara, Türkiye: 2016), 106-107.
37 DGMM note 36775 dated August 14, 2017.

56 SYRIANS IN TÜRKİYE SPECIAL REPORT