The International Refugee Rights Association President Atty. Ugur Yıldırım, who was working on the rights of refugee in the executive body of IHH, stated that they have established an association in 2013, based on the rights of refugee in order to evaluate their problems in a better way.
The International Refugee Rights Association, founded by a group of NGO representatives, journalists, and lawyers based on human rights, provides legal advice and assistance to refugees who had to leave their country for various reasons.
Stating that Turkiye gets ahead in the humanitarian field and that many institutions work in this sense, Yıldırım said, "There is a need of people who will fight for the right and freedom of helped people." He expressed that they have noticed the deficiency at this point and have established such an association with the participation of opinion leaders, journalists, academics, writers and many NGOs the representative.
Underlining that Syrian lawyers in their body provide legal advice and answers to the questions six days a week in Arabic, English and Turkish languages, Yıldırım continued, "Solution cannot be provided only to direct people in the rights-based works."
Noting that the number of Syrian refugees in Turkiye is close to 3 million 240 thousand, Yıldırım said, "Problems of minor refugees such as Uzbeks, Tajiks, and people from East Turkistan, who have less legal protection, have more priority for us. The reason for this is that there are the statutory regulations relating to the Syrians in Turkiye."
UN does not accept refugees for the last 10 years
"The UN has not accepted any Afghan refugee in any way for the past 10 years. In this case, it causes them to stay in nowhere. The country they flee in fact will torture them if they are caught. If sending back those refugees to their country cost to their lives, then we should be more sensitive to this issue," he added.
Turkiye is a country that does not accept refugees
"Contrary to what is known by many people, Turkiye is a country that does not accept refugees," said Yıldırım and underlined that it is impossible for the refugees who come to Turkiye to stay in the country.
"With the drama in Syria, countries that have received refugees in Europe have now stopped receiving refugees. That is why we are facing a group who cannot go to Europe or go back to their country and live without knowing the future. Because they do not have education, health, and social rights, they live illegally and try to be treated as illegally when they become ill."
"Europe needs a population that can only sustain its own potential, technological development, and economy. It also meets the needs of refugees. Therefore, it accepts the demands of asylum and closes its borders for the rest," said Yıldırım by criticizing European countries.
Referring to the poor perception created through the Syrian, Yıldırım said, "People who do not know where and when will hit by a barrel bomb in their country, who lost their families, and have no more a livable environment, take refuge in Turkiye by walking through mined fields with the items they can carry with their hands. We must look at to the issue in this way by showing empathy. People in a country where war lasted 7 years have established works here. It is impossible to return a place, which has an uncertain future and unclear who will attack the next. So, even if people love or hate Syrians, accept them as a guest or not, they will stay here. If we accept this fact, we then must think what we can do together."
ILKHA