13.02.2004
What is «ikamet»?
Reference: At present there are about 1,000
Chechen refugees living in Turkey. Mostly women and children. All refugee
camps, there are three of them, are located in Istanbul. This
is the former recreation center for railroad workers in Fenerbahche,
two other centers are located in the districts of Beikoz and Umrania.
These three camps host more than 500 people, the rest — are scattered
in different districts of Istanbul.
The refugee camp in Umrania is located in the former mosque. The
place is called Halil-Rahman djaami, what means the mosque
of Halil-Rahman. We could hardly enter it when children
surrounded us. There are many of them. Later we found out that there
were more children than adults, in total the former mosque hosts some 150
people.
Informed by children, adults residents came out to meet us. Lom-Ali,
a man in his middle ages, was the first to appear. He is
the head. He is called in Turkish manner — bashkan, what means
the leader. Bashkan is elected by refugees. Probably, people from the
motherland are rare guests here. That’s why the first questions are about home:
is life becoming normal; are pensions and social allowance are paid
in time; have «zachistkas» stopped; are the disappeared being searched
for; is it possible to find a job? When we asked about
their life in the camp, no unambiguous answer followed. Four years
ago, fleeing from the new war, some of them appeared in Georgia,
others in Azerbaijan, there are also people who arrived here after ordeals
in Ingushetia’s tent camps. At that time that did not really
matter — where to go, all they searched for was safety. Each family
can tell a different story how they came to Turkey. But all
of these stories are alike, they have one and the same objective —
to save their lives and the life of their children. In the
building of the mosque they have been living since winter 2000, that
means — four years already. They have received no social aid from
Turkish authorities. Common residents of Istanbul make donations for their
needs. Mostly, food products and clothing. They cook on electric stoves.
People say it is cheaper than gas. Turkey has no gas of its own,
and that’s why it is expensive. In Turkey people buy gas
in cylinders, but refugees cannot afford it.
- We might have provided for ourselves if we could work, —
refugees say. But in order to find a job refugees need
a residence permit.
This is the major and the most sensitive topic for refugees. The matter
is that the residence permit, in Turkish — ikamet, is very
difficult to obtain. Only few people have it. The paper is necessary
not only to find a job. Without ikamet refugees cannot return
to their motherland, because many of them have their passports for
foreign travels expired and customs services are unlikely to let them
cross the border. As it turned out, residents of the refugee camp
in Umrania have faced another important and almost insoluble problem:
school studies for children. For the third consecutive year school children (there
are about 50 of them) have not attended school. Frankly speaking, when
they just arrived to Turkey local authorities allowed them
to establish an elementary school. There were teachers among
refugees, local residents helped them find school desks and other furniture.
But the school functioned for a short time, it was closed. The
spiritual leadership, which is in charge of Halil-Rahman’s mosque,
decided that teaching in Russian was impossible in the building
of the mosque. However, refugees are reluctant to speak about it, they
are afraid to lose this shelter. Where can they go?
Meanwhile, the children, we are talking about, were running along the
corridors of the mosque. What will happen to them without education?
In their 10-11 years none of them knows the alphabet. Of course,
they learnt speaking Turkish quickly but they lag behind children of their
age in Turkey and other countries.
Naturally, we feel sorry for their parents. Moreover, some families have
several children of school age. for example, Tabarik Butsayeva have three
children. The youngest — Fatima — was born away from home. The family
of Butsayevs is from Khimoy. There is such mountainous village
in the Sharoisky district of Chechnya. In autumn 1999, trying
to flee from heavy bombardments, together with her husband Tabarik headed
first to Azerbaijan and then — searching for better life —
to Istanbul. The father is seriously ill, three children do not
go to school, the youngest girl is too weak, medicines are too
expensive and treatment without the wanted ikamet is unaffordable. Almost
all refugees live that way. Of course, some of them manage
to find an illegal job. For example, to wash dishes in a
cafe, to attract people to different stores or even a shop
assistant position. But it is hard to fund even such kind of a
job, because the country is flooded with people from the former Soviet
Union.
Residents of the recreation center for railroad worker in Fenerbahche
have become suspicious to representatives of press. They say that
once a journalist from a central Russian newspaper arrived,
he talked to refugees heart-to-heart, found out everything about
their everyday life, had tea with them, and when back in Russia
he published an article telling that there were mostly wives and
widows of field commanders in Turkey, that they were pretty
comfortable there turning their children into irreconcilable rebel fighters who
underwent training at a nearby Turkish military base. When the publication
came out refugees faced a negative attitude of Turkish authorities.
If previously the issue of granting them the residence permit had
been discussed, after that incident no one was willing to talk about
it.
- It is not in the interests of a state to quarrel with
another state, moreover, to assume someone else’s headache, — female
residents of the camp make philosophical conclusions trying to wrap
themselves into unsuitable for autumn colds clothing: — Look at these
miserable creatures. Soon our children will be called terrorists even
in mother’s womb.
In fact, there is a Turkish military base nearby. And what, refugees ask?
Are we to blame that we were accommodate here? There is a
military base on the left and fashionable villas on the right from
the camp. Strange enough, Russia’s press could have «moved» refugees
to these luxurious villas.
Meanwhile, the refugees’ housing is so poor that it need
an additional description. First, they live in panel houses without
central heating. The camp is located close to the sea shore, the
level of dampness is too high. Small rooms are heated only with gas.
Refugees have to buy it on their own. They try to save it, when
the weather is good and children can play outside. It is forbidden
to heat the houses with electric stoves. They can be used for cooking
only.
All the buildings of the camp are worn-out and cold. The situation
is especially difficult in winter when sea winds blow through the
houses. That’s why many refugees are ill. In spring and autumn cold and
flue are common in the camp, but refugees apply only popular
methods — they cannot afford normal medical treatment. In this camp,
although it hosts only 150 people, there are many children — probably
one third from the total number of refugees. Unlike children from the
neighboring camp, here children go to school. They go to Turkish schools
and study in Turkish. Their parents are proud of it.
When we were about to leave, a small vehicle appeared
in the camp. — Let’s go and meet people who have helped
us all this time, — women suggest. The vehicle stopped in the
middle of the yard, two peasants began unloading food products: potatoes,
cabbage, carrots, onion, garlic…
They do not want to identify themselves: they believe that such aid
must be anonymous. They are from a nearby village, all the vegetables
are home-grown. Everything they have brought today — is from the
whole village, not only to of them. Having thanked them for help,
we said good-bye. Women cried, children, looking at their mothers,
plucked their poor toys, pressing them against their small chests…
- I was told that my son would never recover. But I do not
believe it, — a young Chechen woman says, — holding her
2-year-old son tight. We met her in one of the overcrowded cafes
in Istanbul. She ordered something to eat. When whispering something
she tried to feed the boy, he burst out crying. Her name
is Zarema. She arrived from Azerbaijan. There she was told that cerebral
palsy cannot be cured. For more than six months she tried to find
help in different medical bodies, but in vain. Then she moved
to Istanbul. Her scanty savings exhausted too quickly. Then she was
advised to address to the Caucasian Foundation. There she met Fethi
Guenter, who found a host Turkish family for her. The Turkish foundation
«HAYAT» covers all expenses for medical treatment of the boy.
- You cannot imagine what people are they, — Zarema says. —
I feel terrible when my son begins crying — after massage
he feels pain. But people, where I stay, try to comfort
me and my son. I do not know how could I live without
them. Each time when I go to doctor, someone accompanies me.
Today — their oldest son accompanies me. And we notice a young
boy sitting at a distance, he looks with compassion at the
crying boy. Zarema believes that her son will recover. She must believe and be patient
for that, she says. When we were about to leave the boy continued
crying and the young mother tenderly whispered something to him wiping off
his tears.
I can still hear the voices of my fellow country people: What if we
return home? Do you think we can receive compensation? People say
that it is also impossible to receive the refugee status outside
Chechnya? Is that true?
What could I answer to that? To kill their hope? To support
their desire to return home to face sufferings and arbitrariness?
Or to tell them the truth? How the refugee status is denied for
hollow reasons, how immigration services try to spot a swindler
in any refugee who simply tries to deceive the state.
What can I tell these people having no basic right defined
by the Turkish word of «ikamet» and its analog in many other
countries to which Chechens fled from the war? Who can give them
an answer?
The Chechen Times