A Permanent Solution to Internal Displacement? An Assessment of the Van Action Plan for IDPs

On 29 September 2006, the Van Governorship in Turkey disclosed the “Van Province Action Plan for Service Delivery to Internally Displaced Persons” (the Van Action Plan or the Plan). Prepared with the technical support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and owned by the governorship, the Action Plan outlines the basic principles on which future services for internally displaced persons (IDPs) during their integration, resettlement or return processes will be based. Van was selected as a pilot province for the development of a plan of action as part of the cooperation between the Government of Turkey and the UNDP on the issue of displacement. This cooperation was initiated in the wake of the 2002 mission by Francis Deng, then Representative of the United Nations Secretary General on Internally Displaced Persons (RSG) in Turkey. This report is an assessment of the Van Action Plan, in the spirit of RSG Kälin’s call to the civil society. The report evaluates the effectiveness of the preparatory work undertaken by the UNDP and the governorship during the drafting of the Action Plan as well as the content and ongoing implementation of the Plan. It argues that The Action Plan does not address certain issues that pertain to national-level politics and policies concerning the Kurdish question, issues which have a direct bearing on the choices open to IDPs. Issues such as cessation of the armed conflict, abolishment of the provisional village guard system and the clearing of landmines and unexploded ordnances (UXOs), all of which would positively influence the safety of returns to original rural homes, are ignored in the Plan

Türkiye'de ülke içinde yerinden edilme sorunu: tespitler ve çözüm önerileri = The problem of internal displacement in Turkey: assessment and policy proposals

Bu rapor, Doç. Dr. A. Tamer Aker (psikiyatr, Kocaeli Üniversitesi), Yrd. Doç. Dr. A. Betül Çelik (siyaset bilimci, Sabancı Üniversitesi), Dilek Kurban (hukuk doktoru, TESEV), Doç. Dr. Turgay Ünalan (nüfusbilimci, Hacettepe Üniversitesi) ve Yrd. Doç. Dr. H. Deniz Yükseker'den (sosyolog, Koç Üniversitesi) oluşan TESEV Ülke İçinde Yerinden Edilme Araştırma ve İzleme Grubu tarafından hazırlanmıştır. Grup, yerinden edilmeyi çatışma ortamının keskinleştirdiği devlet merkezli düşünüşün ve çeşitli ideolojik kamplaşmaların ötesinde, yurttaşlık haklarının yeniden tesisi ve toplumsal rehabilitasyon eksenlerinde ve insani boyutları bağlamında ele almaktadır

Astray and stranded at the gates of the European Union: African transit migrants in Istanbul

This paper discusses the consequences of EU migration control policies on irregular and transit migration in Turkey by focusing on African migrants. Our argument is that the EU's concern with transit migration through the Mediterranean and hence its externalization and securitization of migration control have contributed to Turkey's becoming a waiting room for irregular and transit migrants. Based on the findings of a survey with African migrants in Istanbul and analysis of secondary sources, we show that many African migrants get stranded in Turkey. In the absence of an institutional setup for migration management and the prevalence of a security approach, migrants are faced with humanitarian problems and human rights violations