Suchergebnisse

During the armed conflict in the Eastern and Southeastern Anatolian regions of Turkey between 1984 and 1999, a large wave of internal displacement took place. In the mid-1990s, national human rights organizations prepared reports to bring to public attention that hundreds of thousands of people had been evicted from their rural homes. However, at that time the displacement did not attract the attention that it deserved from the media and public opinion in Turkey. Most importantly, public institutions did not take any measures to address the problems of internally displaced persons ("IDPs").Based on an analysis of secondary sources and qualitative fieldwork, this book assesses this phenomenon within a conceptual framework at both national and international levels as well as within the political and socio-economic circumstances specific to Turkey.

In Turkey, some one million men, women and children were forcibly uprooted from rural areas in the east and southeast as a result of the armed struggle from 1984 to 1999 between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Turkish military. Large numbers fled to urban areas, where they have experienced poverty, poor housing, joblessness, loss of land and property, limited access to physical and mental health cvare services, and limited educational opportunities for their children. Those that have returned to their communities of origin also face major difficulties, including threats to their physical safety from landmines and village guards, and dire poverty due to insufficient job opportunities, public services, and compensation for lost property. This book digs deeply into the causes of conflict and displacement in Turkey, seeking to go beyond official versions and to unearth what really occurred and how best to move forward to resolve the political, economic and social divisions. the government would be well advised to study the findings and recommendations of this constructive volume. Acknowledging the plight of the displaced in both rural and urban areas and developing effective policies and programs to help them reintegrate is critical not only for the lives of the displaced but also for the coherence and stability of the country as a whole. (TESEV Publications)