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How did the Covid-19 crisis expose systemic barriers for Syrian refugees in Türkiye, particularly in accessing healthcare and social services, and how have legal policies and asylum regulations, such as registration requirements, exacerbated their vulnerability and restricted access to essential state services during the pandemic?

Image courtesy of interviewee. November 5, 2024

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This video discusses the challenges faced by Syrian refugees in Turkey, focusing on their legal status and access to services. It highlights the difficulties in obtaining information about their situation, particularly regarding vaccination and economic conditions. The speaker notes that Syrian refugees are classified as "conditional refugees" under Turkish law, with legal recognition primarily for European refugees, resulting in limited rights and resources for Syrians.

Key barriers identified include a complex registration process, language issues, and restrictions on employment—only 10% of a company's workforce can be Syrian refugees. This video also addresses the lack of access to healthcare, where registered refugees must pay for services, and unregistered individuals have limited emergency care.

Additionally, the speaker points out that there are geographical limitations within Turkey's refugee policies, creating oppressive conditions for Syrians and hindering their integration. It argues for legal reforms to remove restrictions and enhance access to permanent status and opportunities for refugees. Finally, the text emphasizes the importance of digital rights and access to information, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on refugees' conditions in Turkey.

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Here are five key points from the video regarding the situation of Syrian refugees in Turkey:

1. **Legal and Registration Barriers**: Syrian refugees in Turkey face significant obstacles in the registration process, which is complicated by language barriers and limited access to critical information. Most relevant data is available only in Turkish, making it difficult for refugees who do not speak the language to navigate the system. Furthermore, the registration must be done in-person, presenting additional challenges.

2. **Temporary Status and Employment Limitations**: Syrian refugees are often classified as "conditional refugees" rather than having full refugee status, which limits their rights and access to permanent residency. This classification restricts their employment opportunities, forcing many into informal work or "black market" jobs, as legal employment is severely limited.

3. **Geographical Restrictions**: Turkish laws dictate that refugees are only recognized as such when they enter from Europe, while those coming from countries like Syria are considered conditional refugees. Additionally, registered refugees are required to seek medical treatment only in the city where they are registered, creating a barrier to access healthcare when they move to other areas for better job opportunities.

4. **Changes in Healthcare Access**: Recent amendments to Turkish law have altered access to healthcare for refugees, including requiring them to purchase medical insurance and limiting free access to registered individuals. This has raised concerns about the nature and definition of "emergency" medical care, which is subjectively assessed by providers.

5. **Impact of COVID-19 and Policy Recommendations**: The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed and exacerbated existing barriers within Turkey's refugee policies, prompting calls for reform. There is a need for Turkey to revise its legal frameworks to remove geographical limitations, improve registration processes, and ensure that refugees have both permanent solutions and equitable access to employment and healthcare. Future research is suggested to focus on the role of technology companies in shaping refugee data and rights.

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Here are key quotes extracted from the video, summarizing significant points about the challenges faced by Syrian refugees in Turkey:

1. **Struggles for Information**: "We were really struggling to get all the information or data that is available on the websites of Turkey, which was really very difficult to get at the moment."

2. **Barriers to Registration**: "First of all, their registration process, it's really very difficult. I mean, if you want to register you, you must be there... All the informations are available in Turkey."

3. **Legal Recognition**: "Turkey does have two kinds of laws: one is law on foreign protections... and another one is temporary protection regulations... According to the article, 61 of those laws recognize Europeans as refugees in that particular sense, Syrians are not considered about the refugees."

4. **Temporary Situations**: "The conclusions of the work was they are still in the temporary situations."

5. **Restricted Employment**: "The employment is very restricted for the Syrian people to survive in that community, they have to do some kind of black marketing."

6. **Access to Healthcare**: "Even though it's, it's free access, has been restricted... If you are registered for a particular city, you must take the treatment in that particular city."

7. **Need for Permanent Solutions**: "We are not sticking for durable solutions. We are seeking for something which should be a permanent, at least there should not be any restrictions due to the registration."

8. **Movement Restrictions**: "This kind of movement restrictions could be removed from these kinds of legal situations because you can't within a particular city."

9. **COVID-19 as a Stress Test**: "We can say that COVID-19 has been a stress test for Turkey... unveiled a lot of barriers of Turkey."

10. **Call for Policy Revisions**: "They should remove all kind of restrictions. They should revisit their laws."

11. **Digital Rights Concerns**: "Our focus is on the digital rights of the refugees... whether we are having the actual informations that we should have."

These quotes encapsulate the complexity of the issues faced by Syrian refugees in Turkey, including legal, economic, healthcare, and digital rights challenges.

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:90000

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Are doing, researching about the Syria refuses in Turkey.

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We're doing some kind of legal frameworks in Turkey

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at this moment available.

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So at the time we were really struggling

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to get all the information

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or data that is available on the websites of Turkey,

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which was really very difficult to get at the moment.

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While specifically looking

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for informations about the vaccinations

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of the Syria refugees

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and their are situations about their, economic earnings

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and everything at the time we have seen there are a lot

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of barriers they were facing at that moment.

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Then we, research on what kind of barriers

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that we're looking at the time.

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And specifically what we have faced is

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that their situations is pretty much temporary.

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As we can see. There are a lot of refugee we're looking

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for reciting them, a kind of solutions, you know,

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see when we are, diverting

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to another culture we would like, look forward

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to integrate in their culture.

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But in case of Syrian, it was a bit complicated.

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Uh, first of all, their registration process,

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their registration process.

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It's, it's really very difficult.

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I mean, if you want to register you, you must be there.

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And there are a lot

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of information is only available in Turkey

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at the time of research.

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We also faced the same problem

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because in our group, we don't know, any,

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anyone can speak in Turkey.

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So all the informations are available in Turkey.

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So think, if our Syrian are there

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to get registered themself, so they have to deal it by phone

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and the phone information is only available in Turkey.

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So this kind of various like language, like information

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and like, registration barriers was really very exerted

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during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Turkey is the, part of the conventions

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that is 1951 refugee conventions,

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but Turkey was pretty much aware of that,

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that they have ratified the conventions

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with a geographical limitations.

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Now, I would like to discuss about what kind

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of geographical limitations according to the Turkish law,

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they consider refugee only from the Europe,

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not from any part of the countries.

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For example, if any refugees are from,

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coming from Europe, they only consider them as a refugee.

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But if any refugee are coming from any other part

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of the world, for example, Syria, Pakistani, Afghanistans,

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or Palestine, let me say,

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they don't consider them as a refugee.

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They consider them as a conditional refugee.

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So at this moment, Turkey does have two kind of laws.

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One is law on, foreign protections that is 2030,

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and another one is temporary, protection revelations.

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And that is 2014.

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Both of the laws deals with the refuses, but recognize

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According to the article, 61 of those laws recognize

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European as a refugee in that particular sense,

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Syria are not considered about the refuse,

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and they are deprived of a lot of facilities

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that are awarded by the conventions.

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So automatically within the Turkish legal policy,

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there are cartels by 1951 conventions.

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Then according to Article 62 of the same,

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law LFIP, I'm, I'm referring to LFIP 2013.

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According to article 62,

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all the refuses are coming from the Middle East.

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For example, Syria are that refuses, does, does not belong

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to Europe, are entitled only temporary protections.

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So there is no chances that they're going

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to be permanent near soon.

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So still, if there are in the safe side

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of the country, for example, they're not in Syria,

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but they're in Turkey still that doesn't have any kind

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of permanent ness.

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So the conclusions

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of the work was they are still in the temporary situations.

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And also according to the law of the Turkey, only 10%

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of the Syrian person can be employed

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by a hundred percent of the company.

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So the lever employment is very restricted

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for the Syrian people to survive in that community,

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they have to do some kind of black, marketing, you know,

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they have to do some kind of job that is,

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I mean, not allowed.

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So there are a lot of restrictions pulled by the law

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itself, by the Turkey.

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So Syrians are kind of a, a doll, you know, in the hands

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of the Turkish government.

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So there is no chance they're going to be permanent.

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There is no chance they're going

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to have a good employment situation.

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The problem is they have the free access,

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only the registered refugee, only those who are registered,

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not the unregistered, even though there was a new amendment,

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has been done on 2019,

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which was effective from January, 2020.

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And that is article 27 B.

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It is like, all the medical kits

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and all the basics, medical expenses, has to be bill

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by the, citizens of the Turkey.

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So if you are a resident of here, residents of the Turkey,

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you have to buy some kind of insurance before it was free.

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But at this moment now you have to buy some kind

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of, security.

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This is called DSS scheme.

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Under this scheme, you have to, take a little bit

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of insurance and also the insurance is, only

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for the registered one.

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So if we talk about what about the unregistered?

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So unregistered does have some kind of access,

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but that is emergency.

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Now, there is a confusion with the parameter

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of the emergency when you are going to call them emergency.

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For example, I'm, I'm calling to the medical provider

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that I have emergency.

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Now it's depend on the medical emergency that they're going

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to, identify if you are in emergency or not.

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So, even though it's, it's a free access,

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but as I have said, it's, it's in the law

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has been restricted.

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The free access. When we're looking

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for the refugee solutions, we are not looking

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for something like temporary.

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There should not be any barrier like temporary.

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There should be a permanent.

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We are not sticking for durable solutions.

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We are seeking for something which should be a permanent,

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at least there should not be any restrictions due

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to the registration.

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We, we say, about the fundamental rights of a person is

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of basic necessities, and that is medical.

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And the medical should be, not birthed by any kind

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of registration scheme.

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There should not be a, a move, a movement restrictions

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that I forgot to mention

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before in the medical policies of Turkey,

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if you are registered for a particular city,

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you must take the treatment in that particular city.

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So if you are moving to another city, you are not entitled

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to any kind of treatment.

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This is one of the biggest barrier for the refugees

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because they are very much movable since

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that doesn't have any kind of permanent solutions.

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So, most of the refugees would like to move to Istanbul

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because Istanbul has a lot of job opportunities.

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So for example, if you see any,

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Syrian is registered under Kiwis

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and he is moving to Istanbul

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and he became sick, he can take any kind of treatment.

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You understand me? So this kind of

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movement restrictions could be remote, from these kind

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of legal situations because you can't

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restrict a person within a particular,

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within a particular city, at least for the labor, at least

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for the residents, at least for the medical expenses.

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So first of all, they should remove all

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kind of restrictions.

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They should revisit their loss.

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For example, geographical limitations.

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We know, from Europe, we don't get many kind of refugees

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that we receive from the South Asia, from Pakistan,

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for example, from Middle East, Syria,

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Palestine is still there, is going on a lot of crashes.

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So the geographical limitations, it's kind

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of a political game which has been, unveiled

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by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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So we can say

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that COVID-19 has been a stress test for Turkey.

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So this stress test has been unveiled a lot of

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barriers of Turkey.

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That has been, I mean, in hidden for the refugees

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that we have pulled up

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and take a model based refugee policy,

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for example, from Europe,

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German asylum policies, they have very good kind

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of German asylum law.

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So we can, make a model.

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I'm not saying that we need to follow all of them

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because there is a cultural differences too,

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but there is some restrictions we can meet, remove easily.

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For example, the medical restrictions,

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the registration restrictions,

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I'm not sure if you aware of that.

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There is no registration at this moment happening.

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All the registration has been suspended.

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So if you want to register at this moment,

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it's not possible in Turkey.

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So there is a lot of restrictions due to this kind

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of barriers, from the legal policy of Turkey.

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Apart from that, if you want to work,

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you can't work immediately after registrations.

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So you have to wait at least six months

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to get a work permit.

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The future research should be in this area.

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It's the roles of the big tech company at this area.

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For example, if you are looking for any kind

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of informations, we have to look through up Google

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or we have to look through up, Microsoft

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or Metadata or Facebook.

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But now we need to ensure

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how much data they're realizing if the data is

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accurate data that we have.

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For example, if you're looking at the COVID-19 vaccinations

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of the Syrian refugee, you won't get any kind of data

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because that is not realist.

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So now our focus is on the digital rights of the refugees,

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that whether there are all the informations has been

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disseminated with all the big tech company like now

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available in the Turkish territory,

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whether we are having the actual informations

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that we should have, whether

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there is any algorithm bias that we are receiving that,

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we are looking forward to.

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Since we, we can't take any kind of interview,

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we are not allowed to in their own matters.

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So we are only depend on the data

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that we are receiving online.

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So now the focus is moved more on the digital,

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technology, you know, the digital rights of those people

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that the rights they have.

Challenges Faced by Syrian Refugees in Turkey: Legal Barriers and Information Access

00:00:00 - Are doing, researching about the Syria refuses in Turkey. We're doing some kind of legal frameworks in Turkey at this moment available. So at the time we were really struggling to get all the information or data that is available on the websites of Turkey, which was really very difficult to get at the moment. While specifically looking for informations about the vaccinations of the Syria refugees and their are situations about their, economic earnings and everything at the time we have seen there are a lot

00:00:35 - Then we, research on what kind of barriers that we're looking at the time. And specifically what we have faced is that their situations is pretty much temporary. As we can see. There are a lot of refugee we're looking for reciting them, a kind of solutions, you know, see when we are, diverting to another culture we would like, look forward

00:01:04 - But in case of Syrian, it was a bit complicated. first of all, their registration process, their registration process. It's, it's really very difficult. I mean, if you want to register you, you must be there. And there are a lot of information is only available in Turkey at the time of research. We also faced the same problem because in our group, we don't know, any, anyone can speak in Turkey. So all the informations are available in Turkey.

Barriers to Refugee Registration in Turkey

00:01:37 - to get registered themself, so they have to deal it by phone and the phone information is only available in Turkey. So this kind of various like language, like information and like, registration barriers was really very exerted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Turkey is the, part of the conventions that is 1951 refugee conventions, but Turkey was pretty much aware of that, that they have ratified the conventions

00:02:08 - Now, I would like to discuss about what kind of geographical limitations according to the Turkish law, they consider refugee only from the Europe, not from any part of the countries. For example, if any refugees are from, coming from Europe, they only consider them as a refugee. But if any refugee are coming from any other part of the world, for example, Syria, Pakistani, Afghanistans, or Palestine, let me say,

00:02:39 - They consider them as a conditional refugee. So at this moment, Turkey does have two kind of laws. One is law on, foreign protections that is 2030, and another one is temporary, protection revelations. And that is 2014. Both of the laws deals with the refuses, but recognize According to the article, 61 of those laws recognize European as a refugee in that particular sense, Syria are not considered about the refuse,

Turkish Legal Barriers for Syrian Refugees

00:03:12 - that are awarded by the conventions. So automatically within the Turkish legal policy, there are cartels by 1951 conventions. Then according to Article 62 of the same, law LFIP, I'm, I'm referring to LFIP 2013. According to article 62, all the refuses are coming from the Middle East. For example, Syria are that refuses, does, does not belong

00:03:44 - So there is no chances that they're going to be permanent near soon. So still, if there are in the safe side of the country, for example, they're not in Syria, but they're in Turkey still that doesn't have any kind of permanent ness. So the conclusions of the work was they are still in the temporary situations. And also according to the law of the Turkey, only 10%

00:04:14 - by a hundred percent of the company. So the lever employment is very restricted for the Syrian people to survive in that community, they have to do some kind of black, marketing, you know, they have to do some kind of job that is, I mean, not allowed. So there are a lot of restrictions pulled by the law itself, by the Turkey. So Syrians are kind of a, a doll, you know, in the hands

Barriers to Refugee Rights and Healthcare Access in Turkey

00:04:45 - So there is no chance they're going to be permanent. There is no chance they're going to have a good employment situation. The problem is they have the free access, only the registered refugee, only those who are registered, not the unregistered, even though there was a new amendment, has been done on 2019, which was effective from January, 2020. And that is article 27 B. It is like, all the medical kits

00:05:19 - by the, citizens of the Turkey. So if you are a resident of here, residents of the Turkey, you have to buy some kind of insurance before it was free. But at this moment now you have to buy some kind of, security. This is called DSS scheme. Under this scheme, you have to, take a little bit of insurance and also the insurance is, only for the registered one.

00:05:48 - So unregistered does have some kind of access, but that is emergency. Now, there is a confusion with the parameter of the emergency when you are going to call them emergency. For example, I'm, I'm calling to the medical provider that I have emergency. Now it's depend on the medical emergency that they're going to, identify if you are in emergency or not. So, even though it's, it's a free access,

Barriers to Permanent Refugee Solutions in Turkey

00:06:19 - has been restricted. The free access. When we're looking for the refugee solutions, we are not looking for something like temporary. There should not be any barrier like temporary. There should be a permanent. We are not sticking for durable solutions. We are seeking for something which should be a permanent, at least there should not be any restrictions due to the registration. We, we say, about the fundamental rights of a person is of basic necessities, and that is medical.

00:06:53 - of registration scheme. There should not be a, a move, a movement restrictions that I forgot to mention before in the medical policies of Turkey, if you are registered for a particular city, you must take the treatment in that particular city. So if you are moving to another city, you are not entitled to any kind of treatment. This is one of the biggest barrier for the refugees

00:07:22 - that doesn't have any kind of permanent solutions. So, most of the refugees would like to move to Istanbul because Istanbul has a lot of job opportunities. So for example, if you see any, Syrian is registered under Kiwis and he is moving to Istanbul and he became sick, he can take any kind of treatment. You understand me? So this kind of movement restrictions could be remote, from these kind of legal situations because you can't

Revisiting Refugee Policies and Barriers in Turkey

00:07:56 - within a particular city, at least for the labor, at least for the residents, at least for the medical expenses. So first of all, they should remove all kind of restrictions. They should revisit their loss. For example, geographical limitations. We know, from Europe, we don't get many kind of refugees that we receive from the South Asia, from Pakistan, for example, from Middle East, Syria, Palestine is still there, is going on a lot of crashes.

00:08:28 - of a political game which has been, unveiled by the COVID-19 pandemic. So we can say that COVID-19 has been a stress test for Turkey. So this stress test has been unveiled a lot of barriers of Turkey. That has been, I mean, in hidden for the refugees that we have pulled up and take a model based refugee policy, for example, from Europe,

00:08:58 - of German asylum law. So we can, make a model. I'm not saying that we need to follow all of them because there is a cultural differences too, but there is some restrictions we can meet, remove easily. For example, the medical restrictions, the registration restrictions, I'm not sure if you aware of that. There is no registration at this moment happening. All the registration has been suspended.

Barriers and Digital Rights of Syrian Refugees in Turkey

00:09:27 - it's not possible in Turkey. So there is a lot of restrictions due to this kind of barriers, from the legal policy of Turkey. Apart from that, if you want to work, you can't work immediately after registrations. So you have to wait at least six months to get a work permit. The future research should be in this area. It's the roles of the big tech company at this area.

00:10:00 - of informations, we have to look through up Google or we have to look through up, Microsoft or Metadata or Facebook. But now we need to ensure how much data they're realizing if the data is accurate data that we have. For example, if you're looking at the COVID-19 vaccinations of the Syrian refugee, you won't get any kind of data because that is not realist. So now our focus is on the digital rights of the refugees,

00:10:30 - disseminated with all the big tech company like now available in the Turkish territory, whether we are having the actual informations that we should have, whether there is any algorithm bias that we are receiving that, we are looking forward to. Since we, we can't take any kind of interview, we are not allowed to in their own matters. So we are only depend on the data