Open letter on deportation centers and a call to stand side by side with migrants!

Open letter on deportation centers and a call to stand side by side with migrants!

Anti-migrant behavior and attacks in Turkey have intensified in recent years, and mainstream parties are picking up the rhetoric leading up to elections. Both the party in power and the main opposition declare that migrants should be deported. Many residence permits have already been rejected. Migrants are scapegoated for all kinds of social issues, especially poverty, even though they live in dire conditions brought by those in power. Migrant workers, who are often unregistered and made to work for cheap, pay the bill for the current economic crisis. The only beneficiaries of this situation are the political and capitalist order.

These past two months, we have been witnessing unprecedented police operations and attacks in migrant-heavy neighborhoods. Every migrant who is checked by police is asked for their papers, and those without an ID on them are sent directly to Removal Centers without any legal procedure. Some migrants have even reported that their papers were destroyed during the check. In one case, Moroccan tourists were mistaken for Syrians and deported to Syria without even checking their papers. Out of fear of being detained, undocumented migrants are not leaving their homes and therefore cannot work or pay their rent.

Migrant women and LGBTI+ people, under this climate, cannot access complaint mechanisms. Sona, for instance, complained about male violence at a police station and was instead sent to a Removal Center and forced to be deported “voluntarily.” Many women like Sona are trapped in a cycle of exploitation and violence, while LGBTI+ migrants are targeted by homophobia and transphobia and are sent to Removal Centers even if they are the ones attacked.

Meanwhile, Removal Centers are now far past capacity, and migrants’ most basic needs such as hygiene, nutrition and ventilation are not met. They are subjected to psychological and physical violence such as strip searches, insults, beatings, threats, and humiliation, and they are the targets of racist attacks, torture and other forms of ill-treatment.

We believe that everyone who wants to live in this country has a right to, and we want to live together. We believe that migrants are not the source of our problems, but that the political and capitalist order are. We believe that the inhumane conditions imposed on migrants must end immediately and that migration policy must be rewritten in line with equal fundamental rights.

As the We Want to Live Together Initiative, we call on all institutions and individuals who value dignity and equal rights to sign and circulate this open letter. We must act urgently against racism and anti-migrant hate!

Stop operations against immigrants immediately!

Close all Removal Centers!

Lift Turkey's geographical restriction in the Geneva Convention! Recognize refugee status for citizens of all countries!

Cancel the Readmission Agreement signed with the European Union!

Grant migrants the right to education, health, housing, work and free movement!

SIGNING INSTITUTIONS 

Ankara Gökkuşağı Aileleri Derneği (GALADER), Ardıç Dayanışma Derneği, Bilim, Sanat, Eğitim, Araştırma ve Dayanışma Derneği (BİRARADA), Birlikte Yaşamak İstiyoruz İnisiyatifi, Çağdaş Hukukçular Derneği (ÇHD), Çağdaş Hukukçular Derneği (ÇHD) - İstanbul Şubesi, Demokrasi için Birlik (DİB), Deri Tekstil Kundura İşçileri Derneği, Devrimci Kültür ve Dostluk Derneği (DKDD), Devrimci Parti, DİSK Gıda-İş Sendikası, Emek Partisi (EMEP), Emek ve Adalet Platformu, Feminist Afet Politikaları ve Ekolojik Mücadele (FAPEM), Foça Barış Kadınları, Göç Araştırmaları Derneği (GAR), Göç İzleme Derneği (Göç-İz), Göçmen Dayanışma Ağı/ Ankara, Göçmen Dayanışma Derneği, Göçmen Sendikası Girişimi, Göçmen Yardımlaşma ve Dayanışma Derneği, Hak İnisiyatifi Derneği, Halkların Demokratik Kongresi (HDK) Göç ve Mülteciler Meclisi, Halkların Demokratik Partisi (HDP) Göçmen ve Mülteciler Komisyonu, Halkların Köprüsü Derneği, Hevi LGBTİ+ Derneği, İnsan Hakları Derneği (İHD) - İstanbul Şubesi, İşçi Demokrasisi Partisi (İDP), İzmir Müzisyenler Derneği, Kadın Savunma Ağı, Kamu Emekçileri Sendikası (KESK), Kaos GL Derneği, Lambdaistanbul LGBTİ+ Dayanışma Derneği, Maltepeli Kadın+lar, Mayısta Yaşam Kooperatifi, Mor Dayanışma, Mülteci Medyası, Özgürlükçü Hukukçular Derneği (ÖHD) - İstanbul Şubesi, Partizan, Pembe Hayat LGBTİ+ Dayanışma Derneği, Polen Ekoloji Kolektifi, Sosyalist Dayanışma Platformu (SODAP), Sosyalist Yeniden Kurtuluş Partisi (SYKP), Suriye Demokratik Sol Partisi – İstanbul, Tarlabaşı Dayanışma Grubu, Toplum ve Hukuk Araştırmaları Vakfı (TOHAV), Toplumsal Dayanışma İçin Psikologlar Derneği (TODAP), Toplumsal Özgürlük Partisi (TÖP), Yeni Demokrat Gençlik, Yeni Demokrat Kadın, Yeşil Sol Parti (YSP) Mültecilerle Dayanışma Çalışma Grubu


(To sign the open letter, you can contact us at the following address: 

birlikteyasamakistiyoruz@gmail.com)


For following the sings: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14PITi6Ji0dyAVTfsaYodoaIPGi0BWpB-SsbOEXXLc1o/edit



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