The ongoing war in neighboring Syria has wreaked havoc not only on its people but has also created many social and economic problems in the Turkish towns where hundreds of thousands of Syrians who fled the violence in their country have sought refuge.
It has been nearly three years since the start of the civil war in Syria. The figures from the war, in which there is yet no winner, are hair-rising: more than 100,000 dead, the same number of injured, a ravaged legacy of humanity and culture…
Undoubtedly, the socioeconomic effects of the war have been felt in Turkey the most. The people in the border provinces of Gaziantep, Kilis, Şanlıurfa and Hatay in particular where most of the Syrian refugees in Turkey are staying have been on tenterhooks since the start of the public unrest in Syria on March 15, 2011.
According to unofficial figures, the number of Syrian refugees in Turkey has already exceeded 1 million and the influx of so many people has brought with it a series of problems which Turkey is now trying to cope with.
In southeastern provinces, there is a significant increase in the number of crimes such as theft, begging, fraud and prostitution.
There are claims that some Syrians who have used up all their money have set up gangs amongst themselves and are involved in theft, fraud and pickpocketing.
In big cities, there is a large number of refugees who subsist on begging. It is possible to come across a Syrian beggar on every corner of a street in İstanbul where 200,000 Syrian refugees are living.
The insistence by some Syrian beggars for people to give them money disturbs domestic and foreign tourists in addition to İstanbul residents. Falling temperatures in the country have further increased the desperation of Syrians, making them more prone to committing crimes.
Over the past two months, Syrians living in Ankara have been involved in 20 criminal acts which include traffic accidents, fraud and pickpocketing. The Syrians who live in deserted houses in suburban areas of Ankara have fights with their neighbors from time to time and have to go to the police to settle their disputes.
In İzmir, there has not been any major crimes involving Syrian refugees, according to official records, other than some fights. However, Syrian refugees in İzmir who are illegally employed for lower wages have drawn the ire of local workers.
In Adana and Mersin, there are 150,000 Syrians. The number of criminal cases involving Syrians is 10 in Mersin and 50 in Adana.
Some local and national media outlets, some of whom are acting under ideological motivations, exaggerate the number of criminal cases involving Syrians and try to foment fears of Syrians among Turks.
In order to have a clear picture of the problems caused by the flow of Syrian refugees to Turkey, Sunday's Zaman visited Gaziantep, Hatay, Şanlıurfa and Kilis and observed how the arrival of Syrians has influenced social and economic life in these provinces.
Refugee camps mostly fine
There is in fact a good system in the Syrian refugee camps established in these provinces where camp representatives meet with state officials every week and inform them about their problems, Syrians youths have football tournaments and receive courses on sewing, hairdressing or carpet weaving. However, Syrians living in city centers have many economic problems, which creates a burden on the locals.
According to a study conducted by Associate Professor Mustafa Paksoy, 40.5 percent of Syrians in Kilis live in two-room houses which they share with seven to 10 people. Due to their habits, Syrian refugees stay awake, walk along the streets and speak loudly among each other as if they are fighting until late at night. The noise they make, when added with the voices of three or four children, lead to greater disturbance among their Turkish neighbors.
Rents in Kilis have increased by 100 percent as 69.1 percent of Syrians in the province rent houses. The increase in rents has also affected locals and the civil servants appointed to Kilis from other provinces. Rents have risen to as high as TL 1,000 per month. With the arrival of Syrian refugees, the daily wages of workers in town have fallen to TL 20-25 from TL 60-65, which also affects Turkish agricultural workers in the city.
There are estimated to be more than 150,000 Syrian refugees in the provincial capital of Hatay. In addition to similar problems experienced in other provinces hosting Syrian refugees, Hatay also experiences sectarian conflicts between Sunnis and Nusayris, which have significantly reduced the province's tourism revenues.
A total of 24,000 criminal cases took place in Hatay last year and the number of theft, murder, prostitution and smuggling cases involving Syrians is around 200. According to police sources, this figure is lower than expected but there are fears that it might increase.
Car theft is one of the leading security issues in Hatay. Turkish and Syrian gangs work together to steal cars. The stolen cars are taken to the other side of the border and sold at very low prices there. Over the past several months, around 20 cars have been stolen in Hatay and taken to Syria.
Koray Öztürk, who runs a car rental company in Hatay, had his vehicle worth TL 47,000 stolen by such gangs. He said he is still paying the installments for his vehicle.
Another victim of car theft is Umut Açcan, the owner of Umut Rent a Car company. His luxury car worth TL 70,000 was stolen and the car's navigation device was removed in Reyhanlı province before being taken to Syria.
Due to security shortcomings in the border, it is estimated that around 1,000 stolen cars have been brought to Syria over the past two years. The Hatay Police Department has cracked down on 10 different car theft gangs this year.
There is also an increase in the number of prostitution and murder cases in Hatay, some of which go unnoticed by security forces.
Number of marriages with Syrian women growing
The arrival of Syrians in Turkish border towns has led to an increase in the number of Turkish men having second or third marriages. These marriages are with female Syrian refugees, most of whom are much younger than their Turkish husbands. It is known that some Turkish men threaten their wives by saying they will marry a Syrian woman. However, most marriages between Turkish men and Syrian refugees do not end up lasting very long. The Turkish wives exert pressure on the Syrian wives, leading to conflicts within the family.
A retired imam in Reyhanlı, who requested that he be referred to only by his initials Z. K., said he has performed religious marriage ceremonies for 11 Syrian women with Turkish men over the past two years but eight of those couples later divorced due to intra-family conflicts. He said he will now only perform marriage ceremonies between young couples. Giving an example, he said a 50-year-old Turkish salesman married an 18-year-old Syrian woman whose family was very poor. “They perhaps viewed their marriage as a form of salvation but the woman could only remain married to him for 25 days,” he said.
İbrahim Halil Demircioğlu, a lawyer in Kilis, told Sunday's Zaman that divorce rates in the province have increased due the second and third marriages Turkish men enter into with Syrian women.
“Men in Kilis used to marry Syrian women in the past as well but the number of these marriages has increased with the war in Syria. Turkish men have begun to see Syrian women as an alternative to their wives. Men threaten to divorce their Turkish wives and marry a Syrian with the smallest conflict in the house. There are some men who rent a separate apartment for their Syrian wives. Ten percent of divorce cases in the province are because of marriages with Syrian women. There are even school principals, teachers and civil servants who marry Syrian women,” he said.
In the region, there are even some who are involved in matchmaking between Turkish men and Syrian women in return for payment.
The population of Kilis has doubled to nearly 150,000 with the arrival of Syrian refugees, which means one out of every two people you see on the street is a Syrian. While the number of criminal cases in Kilis involving Syrians in 2011 was nine, this figure rose to 77 in the first eight months of 2013. Smuggling is the leading crime involving Syrians.
Lawyer Demircioğlu said since Syrians know the other side of the border very well, they have become even more skillful than Turks in smuggling. “There is a big increase in the number of Syrians in the criminal cases I follow. This year alone, I followed around 50 crimes of Syrian involvement in smuggling and keeping weapons illegally. This figure was just three in 2010.”
Although Gaziantep is one of the leading industrial provinces in Turkey, like other border provinces, it also has difficulties in dealing with Syrian refugees. A total of 33,000 Syrian families have settled in the provincial capital of Gaziantep. One fourth of the total number of Syrian refugees in Turkey is in Gaziantep. The province's population, which was 800,000 in 2004, has nearly doubled today due to Syrian refugees. Since the number of residential buildings in the city remains the same, there is a big shortage in housing.
Some wealthy Syrians have opened their own businesses in Gaziantep. For instance, Muhammed Sabri Badincki, who was a factory owner in Aleppo, opened a restaurant in Gaziantep and 75 percent of his customers are Syrians.
In order to prevent an increase in the number of criminal cases in the province, officials have considered providing monthly financial aid to the Syrian families who are in need in the province.
Syrians working as illegal workers in the province help with the shortage of workers but also lead to a great security problem. The last example of this took place several weeks ago when Bülent Bulduk, the owner of an atelier in Gaziantep, was attacked by his Syrian employee. The Syrian worker put his employer into a coma and fled after stealing TL 325 in his pocket. He is still at large and has most probably returned to Syria.
In Şanlıurfa, what disturbs the peace are some Syrian youths hanging out on the streets in groups of five or six harassing young women. Police teams receive many complaints about such incidents.
A total of 30,000 criminal cases were committed in the province last year and Syrian refugees were involved in 300 of them. Twenty of these cases involve prostitution. There are claims that some women staying in refugee camps are involved in prostitution.
Precautions needed to prevent situation like Greece
Lawyer Taner Kılıç, who heads the Association for Solidarity with Refugees (Mülteci-Der) in İzmir, likened the reaction of locals to Syrian refugees to a body's reflex when it is vaccinated. “When someone is vaccinated, the human body shows a natural reflex. It is necessary to view the problems emerging with the advent of thousands of people to a province from outside as natural,” he said.
According to Kılıç, the arrival of Syrians who want to protect their lives and honor to Turkey draws the ire of people who are xenophobic, nationalist and racist.
“The stress caused by this situation needs to be managed well. Public institutions, civil society organizations and local administrations in provinces are important actors in achieving this,” he said, adding that Turkey needs to extend greater effort in order to improve the living circumstances of the refugees.
Kılıç noted that if the state and civil society do not address the problems of refugees, mafias, prostitution and theft gangs will fill the gap and abuse their situation.
“You can criticize the [government's] Syria policy but there is no point in depicting refugees as a target. Such an attitude is very dangerous. In Greece, problems began in a similar manner 10 years ago. Now, attacks are being staged on the houses of refugees,” Kılıç said in further remarks.
Number of criminal cases involving Syrian refugees
İstanbul: In İstanbul where 120,000 Syrian refugees are estimated to live in, it is possible to see a Syrian war victim begging in every corner of the city. There are no legal sanctions against those who beg in the historical peninsula. Since most of these beggars do not have a passport, they are released immediately after they are detained by security forces. Security units are concerned about the rise in the number of theft and pickpocketing incidents in the city.
Ankara: Syrians living in Ankara have been involved in 20 criminal cases over the past two months which include traffic accidents, fraud and forgery. The Syrians who live in shanty houses in the suburbs of Ankara have fights with their neighbors from time to time. Around 10 Syrian families go to police station every month due to conflicts with neighbors.
İzmir: Other than fights, no serious crime involving Syrians have been recorded in İzmir. However, Syrians who are employed by the local businesses in İzmir have drawn the ire of local workers. The locals sometimes get together to protest the presence of Syrians in the province.
Adana and Mersin: There are 150,000 Syrians living in Adana and Mersin. The number of criminal cases involving Syrians is 10 in Mersin and 50 in Adana.
Gaziantep: With the arrival of Syrian refugees, the number of criminal cases has increased by 10 percent in Gaziantep.
Hatay: A total of 24,000 criminal cases took place in Hatay last year while the number of criminal cases involving Syrians is 200. Security officials fear an increase in this figure.
Şanlıurfa: In the province where 30,000 criminal cases took place last year, Syrians were involved in 300 criminal cases, 20 of which were about prostitution.
Kilis: While the number of criminal cases in Kilis involving Syrians last year was nine, this figure rose to 77 in the first eight months of 2013. Smuggling is the leading crime here as Syrians bring tea, tobacco and guns from the border illegally.
