Every year thousands of farm laborers from the southeast of the country migrate to the agricultural regions in the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts together with their families. One agricultural center is located in the southwestern town of Kemer in Antalya province. As many as 400 laborers from Batman, Bitlis and Diyarbakır have already arrived in the town.
They are now working at the pomegranate and orange gardens. Having left their homes in October, they will return home sometime in July. Due to the lack of jobs in their hometowns, they are forced to live like nomads nine months of the year. Families live in one-bedroom houses provided by their employers. Waking up at sunrise, they pick fruit until noon, before loading them onto trucks and storing them at depots. There, they have to wash the produce before packing them in crates. Their children continue their studies at local schools in Kemer.
Father of three, Bayram Dilveren, 25, said, "This is honest work. I have seven brothers and sisters. As the eldest, I need to help them and my family and this is how I earn my money."
Rain or shine, they have to work, said Dilveren. "We have no other way to earn a living. We don't see our families during religious holidays. If there had been opportunities back home, we wouldn't be doing this."
His wife, Meral Dilveren, said she accompanies her husband and they work together. "My mother-in-law looks after my children while I work. We are nomads. We seldom see our home."
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