Istanbul Atatürk airport devotes section to asylum seekers
by Zeynel Yaman
ISTANBULMar 28, 2015 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Zeynel Yaman
Mar 28, 2015 12:00 am
A facility will be set up at Istanbul's Atatürk International Airport for the accommodation of asylum seekers whose plight of being trapped at the airport for days while waiting for permission to enter Turkey drew public ire last year.
Refugees seeking to enter Turkey via Atatürk airport, Istanbul's largest, will no longer have to sleep on benches or on the ground while waiting for permission. The Interior Ministry will set up a facility at the airport for the accommodation and other humanitarian needs of asylum seekers.
Refugees arriving at the airport are not allowed through a checkpoint inside the terminal and they often have to wait for a long period of time, which sometimes takes days, to be allowed to leave. Last year, dozens of ethnic Uighurs from China, fleeing persecution at home, were forced to wait for over two weeks before they were granted permission into the country as they lacked visas. The asylum procedure may take long due to bureaucratic red tape, and the Uighurs' ordeal led to public outcry. The Uighur refugees who arrived with little money and possessions received food and other humanitarian aid from the airport's operator company.
The ministry will provide accommodation, food, legal counsel and other services to refugees at the airport in the new facility.
Turkey is the third largest destination for asylum seekers according to United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) figures. According to 2014 data, the country received 87,800 new asylum requests, mainly from Iraqis. Turkey is also home to some 1.7 million Syrians who were granted temporary refugee status after the conflict in the country's southern neighbor forced millions to flee. Syrians are accommodated in modern refugee camps in boarder provinces as they are granted temporary status while others have to wait for their requests to be processed.
The ministry plans to set up similar facilities at other airports with incoming flights from abroad if the need arises. Currently, Uighurs constitute the majority of asylum seekers arriving at airport. Uighurs are mainly concentrated in Kayseri, a city in central Turkey where a sizeable Uighur community thrives in lodgings provided by nongovernmental organizations.
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