MeterOr more than half a century ago, internal Anatolian immigrants moved to this area north of Ankara Castle Hill in search of work. Today, almost every second person living on Altindag Street is an Afghan. The simple Gecekondu houses built by the immigrants at that time still extend onto the slope. In most other areas of Ankara, they have been replaced by modern apartment buildings, but Afghans live here. Because there is no place in Ankara that is cheaper than living space. Five hundred Afghan families can afford rent, including many single men. Mustafa makes a living at the end of an alley. The young Afghan starts work at six in the morning and turns off the lights at nine in the evening. He bake 1,500 Afghan-style flatbreads in a stone oven every day. To this end, he earns an income equivalent to 250 Euros per month.
According to unofficial information, more than 500,000 Afghans live in Turkey. Almost all the Afghan ethnic groups have representatives-Uzbeks, Hazaras, and Tajiks. Only not the biggest, Pashtuns. An Uzbek Afghan in Ankara said that they either fled to the Taliban or fled to Pakistan. One restaurant on the main street is named Kabul, and the other is named after the historical name of Khorasan, the Persian-Afghani cultural district. Two flags, Afghanistan and Turkey, are everywhere. Not even above the entrance of the narrow Bahar Market, the Spice Market. He only provides food from Afghanistan, Afghan rice, cumin, mung beans and other legumes. The supply is still sufficient. But the operator told the interpreter that since the Taliban came to power, supplies from Afghanistan have dried up. He does not speak Turkish.
There are almost no illegal immigrants in winter
The number of refugees entering Turkey has also decreased. Erdem Aycicek of MSYD, a non-governmental organization, said that in the years before the pandemic, more Afghans came than they are now. The organization was established in 2015 to take care of migrants and refugees across the country. This private aid organization has a nearby center that distributes food and clothing to those in need. Aycicek said that in 2019, 454,662 irregular immigrants — of which Afghans are the largest group — came to Turkey. In general, Afghan asylum seekers are the second largest group of refugees after Syrians.
In winter, when the border between Turkey and Iran is as high as five or six meters of snow, the irregular migration from the east has almost completely stopped. Experts worry that, in this way, it will be almost impossible for Afghanistan to distribute aid to those in need. They predict that when the snow melts again in the spring and the situation in Afghanistan deteriorates, immigration will increase again.
The influx of irregular migrants in recent months has been lower than expected, mainly as a result of improved border security. The construction of a new wall along the 534 km long border played a small role in this. So far, the three-meter-high city wall is estimated to have been completed for 30 kilometers, and the city wall is also equipped with barbed wire. It is more effective to increase the number of border guards picking up migrants at the border, recording their data and then pushing them back to Iran. The observer returning from the border has no illusions. “Experience shows that in a few days they will try another path using a different path,” one of them said. “Then they ran again because they were afraid of ordinary soldiers crossing the green border with mines.”
