Ankara meeting on refugee-friendly municipalities held

By Melike Kinaci

ANKARA (AA) - A conference in Ankara on Wednesday explored options to make municipalities friendlier for refugees in Europe and Turkey.

The Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants (ASAM) organized the conference with the intent of discussing how to build municipalities that provide more support to refugees.

The ASAM -- founded in 1995 in Ankara – provides asylum seekers and migrants with a variety of services, including health, psycho-social and legal counselling, and aims to raise public awareness on issues related to them. It has over 60 offices in Turkey.

A large number of local administrators from Turkey and Germany had attended the conference.

In his speech, ASAM Chairman Ali Gitmez said: “Immigration is a phenomenon that has multiple dimensions, including economic, political social and legal. It needs a multi-disciplinary approach since it is the most important factor in determining international relations.”

Gitmez urged all institutions to “take responsibility for refugees… it is time for local administration and municipalities to take action.”

About what he experienced in Europe, he said: “I have been to many European cities in the last six months and I have witnessed exciting meetings regarding developing refugee-friendly municipalities.

“In some areas, it verged on racism; however, the existence of refugee-friendly municipalities raised our hope.”

Some of the solutions discussed at the conference included teaching refugees the local language they reside in; provision of food, clothes and employment were other suggestions.