The Scope of Reception Policies and Practices in Turkey: Housing
By Prof. Ayhan Kaya | Bilgi University
The definition and scope of ‘reception’ in Turkish legislation includes various material conditions including housing, food and clothing provided in kind, or as financial allowances or in vouchers, or a combination of the three, and a daily allowance. Reception also covers matters of education, basic health care and accommodation which ought to be provided during the period of reception. Similar to the EU legislation, the time frame of ‘reception’ is not clearly defined in the Turkish legislation. However, there is an implicit definition: reception starts as soon as the border of a given state has been crossed and an application for international protection has been made. It ends either with the “effective expulsion”, “repatriation”, “forced/assisted return” of unsuccessful applicants or with the acceptance of their request for protection which, in the terminology of RESPOND, makes them subject to ‘integration’.
This short Blog entry focuses on the housing policies of the Turkish state actors and the responses of Syrians to the policies and practices of housing. The interviews in this short piece were previously conducted by the Turkish research team composed of the colleagues from Istanbul Bilgi University, Özyeğin University and Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul. The term “housing” refers to access to accommodation and means of subsistence in the receiving country for first arrivals, food/water, coal and wood for heating purposes. In the framework of the reception practices in Turkey, this work mainly reports to temporal accommodation, accommodation centres, emergency shelters, camps or private flats. There have been basically three different forms of housing for Syrian refugees since the beginning of mass migration in 2011: temporary accommodation centres, private housing, and informal settlements (such as staying with friends, in squats, and make shift). In the very beginning, Syrians were accommodated in the 22 temporary accommodation centres (camps) located at the Syrian border. However, soon after, those who were accommodated in the camps constituted only 10 percent of around 4 million Syrians under temporary protection. The camps started to be evacuated and closed down in 2018. Since the very beginning of the mass migration, an overwhelming majority of Syrians have stayed in private housing while a small proportion of them stayed in informal settlements.
Temporary Accommodation Centres were previously run by the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), which was first established in 2009 under the auspices of the Prime Minister’s Office, and then transferred to the auspices of the Ministry of Interior in 2018.[1] When AFAD was transferred to the Ministry of Interior, its mandate on the temporary accommodation centres was transmitted to a sister organization, which is also operating under the same Ministry: the Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM).[2]
Affordable accommodation for Syrian refugees is one of the most important challenges, given that now almost all Syrians under temporary protection have become urban refugees. Private housing, social housing, protected housing, environmentally-friendly housing and their connection with municipal services are all part of governance and planning for Turkish society. Shelter solutions in the mid-term need to be planned with a view to social inclusion, transportation needs, livelihoods and integration considerations.
The average size of a Syrian refugee family is just above 5 people, with an average of 2 families in each household. Housing and living costs are higher for Syrian refugees due to abuse by landlords, and generally higher in Istanbul than in other parts of the country, resulting in multiple families living under the same roof. A majority of Syrians navigate their way in Turkey with overwhelmed public services and support, coupled with a language barrier. Even though assistance and protection is being sporadically provided by a number of aid agencies to the refugee population settled in urban areas, urban refugees struggle to secure a minimum of social and economic rights, such as education, housing and healthcare. Many families live in abject poverty, often in unsanitary, even dangerous, housing conditions.
The interviews conducted in Istanbul, İzmir and Şanlıurfa demonstrate that the majority of our interlocutors have tremendous difficulties in finding private housing. Higher rents, stereotypes, discrimination, racism, and difficult housing conditions were repeatedly expressed by the interlocutors. The following statement made by a 23-year-old married male with a new-born baby residing in Esenyurt, Istanbul, is very examplary of most of the Syrians living in Turkey, especially in the big cities. When asked about housing conditions, he said:
We went around for many houses and they did not give us any. We kept looking around and nobody gave us any house for rent. They'd tell us, Syrians are "pis, pis, pis" [filthy, filthy, filthy], and thank God, finally we found a paper written here outside [saying for rent], even the rent is 700 liras [meaning cheap, around 120 Euro]. We even told him we are only 4 persons, and that we are wise, and we have relatives. He said there was another family that lived here before us, and they used to have a lot of relatives and guests and people. If we had guests coming to visit us, should we kick them out? They come for an hour or two, he said no it can't be possible. We told him, ok it won’t work then. But we needed the house to stay, we were not going to stay on the street, we used to live in a flat down in the basement, and it had mold and rot, it wouldn't work out for the children, we needed to leave that house. We came here, and thank God, they gave us the flat. Every now and then he would come home and inspect it, sees the cleanliness of the house and leaves. If there's any dirtiness or something. Thank God… (Interview, Istanbul, Balat, 1 August 2018, 18_Bilgi).
A 38-year-old married woman with six children from Aleppo residing in Izmir has a different story with regards to housing. She refers to the fact that her family’s living conditions have changed for the better since they started to get ESSN funding from the Red Crescent (Kızılay). When asked about the housing conditions in Izmir she said the following:
The contract says we pay 400 TL but we are paying actually 600 TL [around 100 Euro] because of the taxes. In our previous house, our rent was 300 TL, but the house was not receiving sun, and we always had problems and illness. When we started to get help from the Red Crescent, we moved to this house. One of my sons works somewhere. Our house is 3 rooms and 1 living room. Our current house is very good, there is a washing machine and dishwasher at home [owned by the landlord]. We only have sofa beds and a refrigerator (Interview, 1 August 2018, Izmir, 18_SRII).
The interviews also demonstrate that informal settlement such as staying with friends, and/or in squats is also a common practice among Syrians. It is also a common practice, especially in Istanbul, for some landlords to offer their make-shift shops, stores and workshops for rent in a rather more exploitative way. A 50-year-old married man with four children from Deir Ez-Zor residing in Fatih, Istanbul, said the following when he was asked about his housing conditions:
We have been living in a shop (ground floor “Dukkan”) for the last four years. Thank God, they know me well. Excuse me, if they found something on me or my family, they wouldn't let us live there, because it is their right… I have been settled in my home for four years (Interview, 1 August 2018, Fatih, Istanbul, 15_Bilgi).
Poor housing conditions remain a big problem. Local municipalities, central state actors and local NGOs have expressed their limited capacity to look after this problem. During the field research, it was only the IOM officers in Şanlıurfa who explained their activities to help the Syrians under temporary protection find proper housing conditions. The IOM officer in Şanlıurfa explained their efforts with the following words:
We have a shelter team. If houses need repairing, reconstruction, they work with Syrians in towns such as Suruc, Akçakale and Siverek. IOM makes an agreement with the landlord and the refugees living in this house in poor conditions, they first do assessment, they do not make full renovation, it is not on the coverage of the project, rather they repair if the window glasses are broken, or there is electricity line issues, or toilets are in bad conditions, if women are not going to go to toilet outside the house, lighting, bathroom, roof etc. IOM, just this year, repaired around 1000 houses. We first talk with Kaymakamlık [local governorship]. We also repair schools, we built a washing room in Siverek and Harran at a place allocated by the local municipality. These rooms serve for both locals and refugees, the municipality covers detergent and electricity (Interview, 13 July 2018, Şanlıurfa, Mezo 7_SRII).
The mass migration of Syrians has radically changed the housing market in Turkey in general. The change has not only affected the Syrians but also local populations. Balkan et al. (2018) found that housing rents have exhibited a statistically significant increase following the mass migration of Syrians to Turkey. Contrary to some of the previous findings documented in the literature, they found that the increase in rental prices mostly comes in the high-quality units. Accordingly, the natives who used to reside in low-quality neighbourhoods have now moved into high-quality neighbourhoods and refugees substituted them. The demand for low-quality dwellings did not change significantly, but high-quality neighbourhoods experienced a sharp surge in demand. As testified by our interlocutors, low-quality houses are now being occupied by the Syrians in different parts of the big cities.
[1] For more detail on the history and organizational structure of AFAD see https://www.afad.gov.tr/en/2572/About-Us.
[2] For a full account of the number of people residing in the temporary accommodation centres until the delivery of their organization to the DGMM in October 2018 see the official internet page of AFAD https://www.afad.gov.tr/tr/2374/Barinma-Merkezlerinde-Son-Durum.