A Roundtable Discussion on “Refugees and the Socio-Economic Integration in Turkey” Took Place at TOBB
Ankara – On February 20, 2017, The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) organized and hosted a roundtable discussion on ‘Refugees and the Socio-Economic Integration in Turkey”.
Relevant line ministries and public agencies (Ministry of National Education, Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, and the Directorate General of Migration Management, İŞKUR, KOSGEB), international financial institutions (the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), international NGOs (UNHCR, UNDP, and ILO), the European Union Delegation and local civil organizations (SGDD-ASAM and Syrian Friendship Association) were represented in the workshop.
TEPAV’s Managing Director Güven Sak kicked off the meeting with his presentation titled “How to Cope with the Refugee Crisis?” In his presentation, Sak outlined the latest state of play with regards to integration efforts of Syrians under Temporary Protection in Turkey. Noting that the Syrian Civil War has triggered the largest forced displacement trends witnessed globally, Mr. Sak emphasized that the ongoing refugee crisis is of a regional nature. However, with the EU-Turkey Migration Deal coming into effect Sak remarked, countries like Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon rapidly evolved from transit countries into destination countries as far as refugees are concerned. The presentation then touched upon the impacted public service provision capacity of central and local authorities in Syrian-dense regions in Turkey, especially in education and healthcare. In turn, increasing visibility of the refugee population risks deteriorating social cohesion between host and refugee communities, stated Sak, reminding that all interventions designed and implemented for refugee integration must also strive to improve the livelihood of host communities.
Güven Sak also underlined the fact that provinces in Southeast Turkey host significant shares of Syrian refugees in relation to their local population already had structurally high unemployment rates. Therefore, labor market integration efforts for refugees in such provinces require very detailed mechanisms that pay attention to both supply-side (occupational skillsets, vocational training etc.) and demand-side (sectors of economic activity, shortage in skills etc.) dynamics. Sak concluded with the need for a more tangible and sustainable integration strategy now that Turkey is a country of destination after the Turkey-EU deal on Immigration. The strategy, he said, requires the involvement of the international community in a dialogue to set a measurable integration policy.
Following Mr. Sak’s presentation, officials from Ministry of National Education and Ministry of Labor and Social Security summarized the state of play with regards to activities and domains of their respective ministries. The importance of İŞKUR, for which both the World Bank and UNDP is carrying out complementary interventions to develop capacity for local branches, in facilitating formal integration of Syrians to local labor markets was one of the frequently discussed issues in the workshop.
The session was concluded following project pipeline summaries and field experiences of officials from the UNHCR, UNDP and the World Bank.
