I had a huge house and I had guests all the time, we never had any financial concerns,” says human rights activist and doctor Hameeda Sharifi about her former home in Afghanistan. “Now, there’s nobody around, and we have to think twice before buying anything.”
After decades of fighting for women’s rights, Sharifi was forced to flee Afghanistan, with her husband and their two children, due to threats from the Taliban. She arrived in Turkey, via Iran, in 2018. But although Sharifi thinks of herself as “lucky”, her struggles didn’t end there.
Aside from the emotional and financial costs of being a refugee, Sharifi has also had to face rising xenophobia in Turkey. The country has long hosted one of the world’s largest refugee populations – from Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere – but in recent years economic turmoil and less hospitable government policies have prompted a shift in attitudes.
In August 2024, the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) published a report claiming that refugees in Turkey are seeing their human rights violated. Noting the dangers commonly faced by refugees on the move – which include violence and sexual assault – it described how these problems are compounded by Turkey’s anti-refugee atmosphere, which has included hate speech from public officials and incidents of anti-refugee mob violence.
Immigration raids
Like Sharifi, Şirin M. – a 34-year-old mother of three – fled Afghanistan for Turkey. She arrived in the eastern city of Van, a key migration hub, after a 40-day journey through Iran in 2019. “When we first set out on the road, we were only thinking of escaping the Taliban. But we saw the real hardship when we started crossing borders.” Şirin said. “40 days was such a long time. I was so afraid for my kids.”
When they arrived in Van, they were relieved to find a warm welcome from their new neighbours. “We rented a house that was half in ruins,” said Şirin. Their neighbours brought them food and clothes. “I wanted to take the kids to school but I couldn’t speak the language. They helped with that as well.”
Şirin’s husband found a job as a waste paper collector, which provided the family with a little income. But they were worried about the government’s frequent immigration raids, which aim to detain and deport migrants without documents.
“We didn’t have IDs or residency permits, so we were afraid,” she said. “I noticed after a while that my younger son was stuttering. I could feel that he was scared. I am heartbroken as a mother. And I am outraged as a woman and a mother. War is always hardest on women and children.”
The family’s financial struggles got worse after Şirin had another child last year. And while they’ve been lucky with their neighbours, Şirin has noticed the growing anti-refugee sentiment.
In July this year, riots erupted after Turkish authorities arrested a Syrian man for allegedly sexually abusing a seven-year-old girl in the central city of Kayseri. The riots damaged houses, workplaces, and vehicles belonging to Syrian nationals, and hundreds of rioters were detained.
“We were considering migrating to İstanbul but we decided to never leave Van after seeing all the issues,” she said. “There are people here who love and understand us. They don’t treat us like the diseased.
“If immigration is the worst thing that could happen to a person, the best is to come across good people.”
Tackling prejudice
Active in southeastern Van province, the Hearing-Impaired and Families Association (VIED) offers a variety of community classes and Turkish lessons to the city’s disabled and women refugees. The organisation’s representative, İlkay Gökdere, mostly works with refugees and immigrants from Iran and Afghanistan.
Although Van has escaped the worst of the anti-refugee backlash so far, Gökdere believes it is connected to political rhetoric.
“The most dire issue is prejudice, but we can break that prejudice when two groups familiarise themselves with each other,” she said. “We have clients who have been in Van for six or seven years but can’t speak Turkish. When you ask them why, they say that they don’t have any interactions with locals and that they stay away. Those walls need to be torn down.”
Many of the women who come to the organisation for help are in dire financial situations and can’t even access basic foods, according to Gökdere. “Imagine what immigrants are facing when even the locals in our country struggle with the economic situation,” she said. “They receive aid from various organizations, but of course, it’s not enough. Kids eat poorly and live in unsanitary environments.”
For Hekima S., a mother of three, everything was worse since she did not have a husband. “I have a lot of trouble here,” Hekima said. “Men have been tormenting me everywhere I went. They would say things like ‘come be with me, be my lover’ and bother me.”
Hekima said she also faces inappropriate requests and conduct from male officials.
“Once, the officer who came to issue the electricity bill asked for my phone number and said, ‘we need it’. Since I didn’t know this place, I believed him and gave him my number,” she said. “Then he started sending me messages, saying, ‘let me go shopping for you’. The men at the social institutions where I sought help also behaved this way. I don’t know if it is like this in other cities as well; but [here] men torment and harass single women a lot.”
In addition to those, Hekima also struggles financially. “I work at a hotel and they only pay me 12,000 liras (345 US dollars, below minimum wage) a month, but my rent is 10,000 liras to begin with. I also do tailoring, but I don’t earn enough. I can’t make ends meet. Sometimes I go penniless for days.”
Even though the last five years were difficult in many ways, Hekima is adjusting to her new life. “We had a very hard time, but now we are in a slightly better situation,” she said. “Five years have passed, and we are trying to forget what happened. I have always received support from women here, but as I said, the men have bothered me a lot.”
The numbers game
Political scientist Cavidan Soykan believes that Turkey is seeing a similar anti-immigrant backlash to that experienced by many countries in Europe. In Turkey’s case, she said, the government’s failure to release official data on immigrant numbers has created a crisis of trust.
“People equate refugees to immigrants who have gained citizenship through the purchase of real estate or through investment,” Soykan said, adding that the opposition’s claim there are 13 million Syrians living in Turkey is implausible.
As a result, many people in Turkey believe that the immigrant population has been growing, even though the numbers reported to the United Nations (UN) and other organisations have stayed the same. According to the International Organisation for Migration, there are 4.6 million foreign nationals in Turkey, of whom 3.4 million are refugees.
Turkey opened its borders to refugees fleeing Syria after the civil war began in 2011. At first, Syrians were located in camps, but soon, when the numbers reached millions, refugees moved to the cities. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have also fled to Turkey in recent years.
Meanwhile in 2018, Turkey lowered the investment criteria for foreigners to become Turkish citizens, in a bid to boost the economy. Foreigners can become citizens if they own property in Turkey worth $250,000 for three years, down from the previous figure of $1 million. According to government figures, around 20,000 people became Turkish citizens via this route between 2018 and 2021.
Soykan told Inside Turkey that confusion between refugees and other migrants has been exploited politically.
“Instead of going door to door to present their economic program, the opposition took the easy route of playing with numbers and provoking hate,” she said. “Now, the government’s economic failures are blamed on the most vulnerable, lowest-ranked group in society – refugees.”
With the deterioration of the economy, Soykan expects an increase in attacks on immigrants. Civil society organisations have also been less willing to speak out in defence of refugee and migrant rights, as the government toughens its policies on irregular migration.
Despite the difficulties, however, Turkey remains a lifeline for many refugees. “I was still scared when I first arrived,” said Sharifi, the doctor and human rights activist. “I was worried about deportation. The idea of returning to Afghanistan was a dark thought.”
Sharifi said that she got over the initial fear she felt upon arrival, but her concerns about the language barrier and finances have only increased over time. Not having been able to find employment, Sharifi spends time at home with her younger son, and her husband works as a restaurant cleaner.
“I’m most devastated by being alone,” Sharifi said, when asked what she finds hardest. Not a single person has walked through my door here for months. We are completely alone in this tiny home.”