Syrians in Turkey work for pittance to survive

 

   Many Syrians in the Turkish capital, for example, work for a daily wage of as low as TL 15 ($5). The luckier ones among the approximately 50,000 Syrians in Ankara get paid up to TL 30 ($10) a day. They are usually considered by small companies as “cheap labor,” and many have to work without social security.

   You can also see some Syrian children working in organized industrial zones. Most of the Syrians working in such places usually live in shanty houses that they rent in the neighborhoods surrounding the business site.. Some also stay overnight at the workplace. According to official figures there are 2,291,900 Syrian refugees in Turkey, but the actual figure is estimated to be significantly higher. Only around 250,000 of the refugees in Turkey live in camps set up mostly in provinces near the Syrian border.

   Nearly one-third of the officially registered Syrians are young. School-age children are particularly vulnerable as most fail to get schooling. According to a recent report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), there are 708,000 Syrians in Turkey who are of school age. More than 400,000 of them are not able to attend school, despite the Turkish government allowing them access to the Turkish education system.

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