Launching Meeting for “Turkish Red Crescent Community Center Project Needs Assessment” Report

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The report titled “Turkish Red Crescent Community Center Project Needs Assessment” and prepared in cooperation with Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies, Turkish Red Crescent and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, was launched during a meeting hosted by TOBB University of Economics and Technology (TOBB ETU) on 13 July 2015.

The purpose of the ORSAM report prepared by Başak Yavçan faculty member at TOBB ETU was to identify the needs of the Turkish Red Crescent Community Center Project which is one of the projects launched to fulfill the needs and overcome the problems of the Syrian refugees who have stayed longer than expected in Turkey. Interviews, focus groups and preliminary surveys were used in the report prepared through field studies conducted in Şanlıurfa on 12 January-12 February 2015. In the conclusion of the report, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that the project might deal with were examined in the light of the data gained from the SWOT analysis and recommendations are given in this regard. According to the data in the report, while some of the refugees complain about being subject to guest law, extremely high rents, few job opportunities and low wages, most of the refugees are very content with the security, free services and humanitarian aid they receive, local hospitality and the attitude of the Turkish government. The Syrian refugees expect the Community Center to launch language courses where they can learn Arabic and Turkish or vocational courses like computer literacy or tailoring. In addition, the refugees stated that easy access to the Community Center is essential for the children to go on their own and wanted that the activities should erase the memories of the war from children's minds. The results of the SWOT analysis in the conclusion show that the institutional identity of Turkish Red Crescent constitutes a sense of security for the refugees especially for those with camp experience and creates an encouraging environment for the competent instructors to give courses in The Community Center.

The fact that the Center is in Eyyübiye, an area easily accessible to the refugees makes the Turkish Red Crescent Community Center an appealing center to the refugees. However, it is likely that the local people may feel outcast and react because of the fact that at the beginning the project targeted only the Syrian refugees. Therefore, it is expected to launch projects involving the local people in the future. The possibility that the refugees might not get permission to attend the courses in their current low skilled jobs, constitutes another threat that the project might encounter. Despite all this, that the success of Community Center might encourage similar projects through vertical and horizontal spillovers and provide job opportunities for the refugees whose number continues to grow are among the opportunities of the project. The report was concluded with recommendations to increase the success of the Community Center in the light of the data procured and assessments.

The meeting that launched Turkish Red Crescent Community Center Project Needs Assessment Report started with the opening statement of ORSAM President Assoc. Prof. Dr. Şaban Kardaş. Mehmet Güllüoğlu, the Director General of Turkish Red Crescent took the floor after Assoc. Prof. Dr.  Kardaş and said that Turkish Red Crescent is trying to do its best about the refugee crisis. Having indicated that the foundation of a society will begin in Syria in the future, he expressed wishes to give services contributing to today and the future. He pointed out the situation of the refugee children being the most vulnerable group among the Syrian refugees by saying “we want to increase our activities in order to prevent the refugee children from being a lost generation when they go back to their countries”. Afterwards, he ended his speech having indicated that their activities will focus mainly on humanitarian aid and academic studies.

The second speaker Başak Yavçan emphasized the importance of field research in the migration studies and shared the data she gathered during the field research with the participants. She continued to give information about the data and stated that most of the refugees are content with the services they receive in Turkey and the interest Turkey shows to them when they are vulnerable and hopeless in this period. She continued her speech with the expectations of the refugees from the Community Center and said that certification is one of the most important criteria for them and they hope to benefit from these certificates while looking for jobs. Javier Ormeno, Delegate at International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, who took the floor after Assist. Prof. Dr. Yavçan, pointed out that Syrians trust Turkey and Turkish Red Crescent and congratulated the Turkish authorities for establishing such a system for the refugees. He indicated that the purpose of the study was enabling the refugees to contribute to the solutions of their own problems and ended his speech by sharing the photos he took during the field studies.

The meeting ended after the speakers answered the questions and evaluated the comments of the participants.