Hassan Elukda is a Syrian refugee who arrived in Turkey in 2013: for five years he had lived in an apartment in the southern province of Kahramanmaras, with his wife and six of his seven children. Four had come with him from the Idlib area when the war forced them to leave Syria, three were born in Turkey, one got married in the meantime. Elukda worked as a laborer and as a farm laborer: he was able to send his children to school and support his family, thanks to the money he earned and the aid provided by the program ESSNwhich with funds from the European Union guarantees one and a half million refugees prepaid credit cards topped up with small sums every month.
But the life that Elukda had built in Turkey, like that of most of the almost two million Syrians residing in ten Turkish provinces, was turned upside down by the earthquake of 6 February. Today his family lives in the Vali Saim Cotur camp, in a tent; he no longer has a home or a job. The few prospects would push him to leave again: «I should go to Europe, but there is no legal way. And I can’t leave my family here alone.”
The paradox is that Elukda was lucky: his house was not damaged by the earthquake. But he says: «After the earthquake, our landlord first tripled our rent, from 500 to 1,500 Turkish lira a month (from 20 to 60 euros, ndr), then even if we gave him what he asked for, he kicked us out, since the lease had been renewed without a real contract”.
In the area affected by the magnitude 7.7 earthquake, almost 300,000 houses were destroyed or to be demolished due to non-recoverable damage: the prices of rental homes have multiplied ten-fifteen times, demand is very high, the owners often exploit the moment , or they want to use the apartments for some displaced relatives. The result is that the case of Elukda is quite common, an important part of the Syrian community present in the area has returned to live in camps and tents. Or she had to leave again.
Hassan Elukda and part of the host family of the tent city (European Union/Diego Cupolo)
It is a very large community: Turkey is home to 3.6 million refugees, most of them Syrians. They have arrived since 2011, after the start of the Syrian civil war. About 1.7 million were residents of the provinces closest to the border affected by the catastrophic earthquake in February: they are more than 10 percent of the total residents in the area (13 million). Not all were “lucky” like Elukda’s family: 4,300 of the over 50,000 who died in Turkish territory from the earthquake are Syrians; many more have had their homes destroyed.
– Read also: In Türkiye, two million displaced people are still living in tents
For the Syrian community in Turkey, the earthquake was the latest serious event in a situation that had become more complicated in recent months, after years of slow but steady progress. Before the earthquake, 98 percent of Syrian refugees no longer lived in a camp, but in a house, now that percentage has dropped dramatically.
After the pandemic, and then more after the start of the war in Ukraine, Turkey has had to live with very high inflation, also caused by at least bizarre economic policies: now it is around 40 percent on an annual basis, but in 2022 it even reached 80 percent, while the Turkish lira has lost and continues to lose a lot of value. This has created a large number of new poor people and has increased tensions with the other “weak” component of society, that of Syrian refugees.
The Syrian issue was at the center of the electoral campaign, especially before the runoff between outgoing president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu: the latter, in an attempt to win a part of the nationalist and right-wing vote, he had promised to “send the Syrians home within two years” in case of election. Billboards with slogans such as “Syrians Out” have appeared in major opposition-controlled cities, including Istanbul and Ankara. After the vote, on social networks the Syrian community was indicated as decisive for Erdogan’s victory: in reality, there are currently no more than 200,000 Syrians with Turkish citizenship and therefore able to vote.
Erdogan’s victory has not eased tensions, even if it guarantees the continuation of reception policies: the government receives a lot of direct and indirect international aid to host such a large community, including the controversial funds resulting from the agreement with the European Union for block migrants before they enter European territories.
The border between Turkey and Syria in Reyhanli (European Union/Diego Cupolo)
On June 15, the seventh was held in Brussels European Conference on Syria, which defined the allocation of aid for the Syrian population (which therefore does not pass through the Syrian and Turkish governments) equal to 5.6 billion euros for 2023 and 2024. The European Union is the main donor for what it concerns Syria and Syrian refugees abroad: since 2011 it has guaranteed over 30 billion. The largest project is the one that transfers small sums of money, 350 Turkish lira a month (almost 14 euros) directly to the refugees, as a contribution to basic expenses. The ESSN figure is the result of a negotiation with the Turkish government: it must not be higher than the aid that the government guarantees to Turkish citizens in difficulty, to avoid creating social tensions.
But there are many smaller humanitarian projects: many are in Turkey, where it is easier for international non-governmental organizations to operate than in Syria.
The NGOs rely on local structures, often managed by Syrians: this is the case of clinic of NSPPL (Syrian National Center for Prosthetic Limbs), located in Reyhanli, Hatay Province and 100 meters from the border with Syria. Since 2017, custom-made prostheses have been produced here to supply amputees, mostly Syrian, almost always victims of war accidents: it is the only center that carries out this work on a non-profit basis, thanks to the support of the NGO Relief International. Since 2017 it has managed 28,000 cases, not only providing prostheses, but also physiotherapy and psychological assistance. Each technician produces 5 prostheses a month (there are six of them), within three weeks we proceed with the adaptation to the limb and with physiotherapy. Muna Hama, 23, a Syrian, belongs to the rehabilitation team: “I have been an amputee myself since I was three: as a young girl I received assistance in the centre, then I studied physiotherapy to work here”.
Syrians residing in Syria such as Mohamed (invented name), belonging to the army of the rebels who opposed the Syrian president Bashar al Assad, also come to the clinic. He lives in Azaz, Syria, and lost both legs above the knee in a mine: «It takes five hours and many documents to get here, but it’s the best solution: my prostheses had to be changed and I can only do it in this clinic.” The borders between Syria and Turkey have been closed since 2018: special medical needs make it possible to obtain a temporary visa, as in the case of Mohamed.
The more than three million Syrians who instead entered Turkey before the closure of the borders had to register in a single province: only in this province do they have access to aid and services, only in this can they look for work. To move to another province, even temporarily to meet a relative, requires a permit, which is not easy to obtain. If you are stopped in a different province you risk serious consequences, which may even consist of expulsion.
Mahal al Ahmad comes from Idlib, his family is registered in Adiyaman, where today he resides in an “informal camp”, i.e. a set of tents in a public garden: «Two of my sons a couple of years ago went to Istanbul to looking for work: they were stopped and taken back to Syria: they have been in Idlib ever since, I see them only by phone. But they are not the only ones, I have a family divided between Syria, Lebanon and Turkey, I have grandchildren who I have only seen in photographs».
Mahal al Ahmad, 50, Syrian, in an unofficial camp in Adiyaman (European Union/Diego Cupolo)
After the earthquake, the Turkish government suspended the ban on movement between provinces for three months (albeit with some local restrictions) and allowed for the first time Syrians residing in the areas affected by the earthquake to make a temporary return to Syria without losing the right to aid and assistance. For many it was the first occasion for a family reunification, but public invitations are increasingly frequent of the press close to the government to a definitive return of at least part of the refugees to Syria, especially in the areas under the control of the Turkish-backed rebels.
The strict policies of priorities for Turkish citizens in the assignment first of tents and now of containers for earthquake displaced people also go in this direction: they are not enough for everyone and in both cases, whatever the family and economic situation, the refugees are at the bottom of the list, with little chance of leaving the tents in the coming months.
Mohammed Altinci studied languages, works with an NGO, has been in Turkey since 2015 where he got married and had a daughter: «Since I arrived I have seen a continuous deterioration in our conditions, in how we are seen, in how much we are tolerated. I come from Aleppo, where my parents still live, whom I haven’t seen since I left: going back there is certainly not an option». The city of Aleppo was almost completely destroyed between 2012 and 2016 during the civil war, now it has returned under the control of the regime of Bashar al Assad.