Education authority blocks academic research of Syrian asylum seekers

The Higher Education Institution (YÖK) has reportedly written to universities warning them to first request permission from the Interior Ministry if they are planning on embarking on any sort of academic research concerning Syrian asylum seekers based in Turkey.

A letter sent by YÖK in April titled “Field work regarding those requesting temporary and international protection” informed universities that academic studies of Syrian asylum seekers in Turkey had been undertaken without the Interior Ministry’s permission and underlined that such studies cannot be started without first gaining approval.

The move has been seen as the government’s intervention in academics to try and mitigate any possible damage caused by the publication of studies regarding the many asylum seekers who have fled from the civil war in neighboring Syria.

Earlier this week around 5,000 Syrian asylum seekers were reported to have fled to Turkey via the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa as clashes between the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Democratic Union Party’s (PYD) armed militia intensified in Syrian towns close to the border.

The asylum seekers flocked to the Turkish-Syrian border when the ground battle between extremist ISIL forces and Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG) Burkan al-Firat forces escalated between the Tal Abyad and Serekaniye regions — which are situated just across from Akçakale in Şanlıurfa province — and air strikes intensified on the ISIL locations.

Around 5,000 Syrian asylum seekers entered Turkey through the border towns of Pekmezli and Yeşiltepe, with officials from the Akçakale District Governor’s Office and gendarmerie forces monitoring the flow of those escaping the conflict.

 

 

TODAY’S ZAMAN