Turkish state pushes Syrian refugees to prostitution

The Turkish state is pushing refugees who fled Syria and arrived in Urfa towards prostitution, drug abuse and selling their organs. The refugees who want help from state institutions are told, “Go die in your own country, or do prostitution like others."

The Turkish state continues with their policies of assimilation and degeneration in Kurdistan’s cities. The policies focus on Bakur (North) Kurdistan’s cities along the border with Rojava, and take advantage of the refugees’ psychology after fleeing the war in Syria. The Turkish state has allowed prostitution, drug abuse and the organ mafia to flourish, and the administrators in these cities employ these policies in a controlled manner.

In Urfa, the second biggest city in Bakure Kurdistan and the one closest to Rojava, prostitution is growing. The residents of the city are being dragged into it as well. Local sources say there are over 850 prostitution houses in Urfa, all of them operating within the knowledge of the Urfa police who say they have them under control.

Syrian refugee women living in poorer neighborhoods in Urfa are being pushed to prostitution by state institutions, reports say. The refugees appeal to state institutions when they can’t get jobs and thus can’t earn a living, and are dismissed and told, “Go die in your own country. Or sell your bodies like the others.”

“TURKEY IS WORSE THAN THE ASSAD REGIME”

A 35 years old woman who wished to remain anonymous said she fled the war in Syria and has been living in Urfa for the last 7 years. She has 6 children, and she lost her husband in the war.

She said: “Me and my children wake up every day and thank god that we didn’t starve that day. Because it is difficult to even find bread to eat. I lost my husband in a clash in Syria 7 years ago. He died in an explosion, he had no crime or sin. I had to take my children and come to Turkey.

I have 6 children. I wanted to kill myself countless times because I can’t take care of them. But they have nobody else. That’s why I changed my mind, every time. When we first came, we thought we would rebuild our lives. We thought we would live here, rather than be caught between Assad and the salafist opposition and die. But we never imagined Turkey would turn out to be worse than the Assad regime.”

“GO PROSTITUTE YOURSELF”

The refugee woman said she goes to Turkish state institutions every day to ask for help, and shared the following on the kinds of dialogues she has there: “We depend on even a piece of bred for my children to survive. We live in a house with two rooms, with two other families. Every day we go to Turkish state institutions distributing aid. At first it was that they wouldn’t treat us well, but at least we had food. In the last 3-4 years, they are doing everything they can not to help us.

Many women in our neighborhood prostitute themselves, and their husbands know. That is how they eat. We tell the state officials when we go, and we ask them if we too have to prostitute ourselves. They say, ‘What can we do? Either go back to your country or you prostitute yourself too. How are you better than those who do?’”

“THEY PUSH US TO PROSTITUTION”

Another woman who lost most of her family in the war said: “I want to feed my children with halal money. They should either give us jobs to work, help us or open the gates so we can go to Europe. Our psychology worsens every day here. I was a teacher in Syria. I was forced to migrate here with my 3 children and my husband. My husband died a year ago, from grief. My children get sick almost every day due to malnutrition. Many Syrian women are forced into prostitution. Those who don't want to are pushed into it. Their husbands know too. Because they can’t find any work either.

There are no work opportunities at all. There are even men forced into prostitution to live. Urfa has turned into a city of prostitution. The Syrian refugees are made to look like people who only work in prostitution, do drugs and sell their organs. I know dozens of Syrian refugees who sold their kidneys. Many more involved in drugs, some who sell too. Our situation is getting worse by the day. The Turkish state is knowingly pushing us to prostitution and other immoral things.”