Statement of Veysi Kaynak revealed what the government actually think about the Syrian immigrants in Turkey

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak said that “if there were no Syrians, there would be no unskilled worker, our factories would cease running," in a statement on Wednesday on the lynching attempt against Syrian immigrant in Ankara.

Statement of Veysi Kaynak revealed what the government actually think about the Syrian immigrants in Turkey. Kaynak commented on the recent event in Ankara where Syrian immigrants were targeted with a lynching attempt and argued that people should be tolerant of immigrants.

Kaynak continued by arguing that Syrian immigrants are important for Turkey because they do unskilled work. “Turkey should also see those 3 million people as human capital. There are educated ones and experts among these 3 million. Now in Kahramanmaraş, Adana, Osmaniye, Gaziantep and even in Ankara, there are no others than the Syrians who do unskilled work. Our factories would cease running without them”, he said.

THE CONDITIONS OF THE SYRIAN WORKERS IN TURKEY

As revealed by the deputy prime minister’s statement, most of the Syrian immigrants are working and forced to work as unskilled labours. According to Murat Çakır from Workers' Health and Work Safety Assembly (İSİG), hundreds of thousands of Syrians are homeless and work for 10 liras (less than 3 US dollars) per day, while a few rich Syrians can afford villas in Turkey.

Çakır also informs that almost all of these Syrians work informally and it is possibly more than 3 million people who are under these conditions. Syrian immigrant workers “work uninsured; their working hours are unidentified; some are homeless, stay on the streets or in their working places; they have nutrition problems, additional health problems due to living in an unfamiliar environment; they are killed by occupational murders, get injured and get sick”, he adds.

When the migration started, Syrians were mostly working in the agricultural sector., but now it is the construction sector, says Çakır. After construction, there are textile, metal and food industries. According to the information, İSİG gathered, among 96 immigrant workers who were killed by occupational murders last year in Turkey, 60 were Syrians.