The second of “International Students and Academicians Social Harmonization Meetings” have begun with the cooperation of our Directorate General of Migration Management Harmonization and Communication Department and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was held in Samsun between 11 and 12 February 2020.

Along with Deputy Governor Mehmet AKTAŞ, our Deputy General Director Dr. Gökçe OK, Vice Rector of Samsun Ondokuz Mayıs University Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ali CENGİZ, our Acting Director of  Harmonization and Communication Department Ali Rıza BEŞKAT, Deputy Manager for International Protection in UNHCR Gökçe SARAYDIN, and our Director of Samsun Provincial Migration Management Zafer ÇOLAK, Directors of the Provincial Migration Managements in Black Sea Region, academicians who study in migration field in provinces, and international students attended to the event which was organized in order to have an exchange of ideas to make foreigners fit into society and inform people.

Deputy Governor of Samsun Mehmet AKTAŞ who made a speech in the beginning of the meeting said: “We host migrants who are refugees, asylum seekers, and under temporary protection. In our country and province migrants live with right to protection, health, education, and labour. The access of the migrants in our country to the rights and services ensured by national and international laws is a duty assigned to the public enterprises. We do not have a choice to fulfil the duty or not. This is a national and civil duty and assignment.”

Our Deputy General Director Dr. Gökçe OK, who addressed to the participants stating that unfortunately migrants in our country are now called “Syrians” said: “It is a gross injustice and it is not right. Syrians stay here under temporary protection. We should recognize that Turkey, which has been the migration route throughout history and is a destination country today, has been blended with migrants, and we should not forget that those people seek asylum from Turkey in order to save their future, children, and dreams just as people from Balkans migrated with such feelings, reasons, pain, and traumas 100 years ago.

Vice Rector of Samsun Ondokuz Mayıs University Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ali CENGİZ who spoke on the second day of the programme addressed to the international students and said: “We are the country which is able to host international students ideally in this area. In this sense, we try to make our students feel it. You are an important part of this country. You are not foreigners. We have a systematic structure you can access when you have a problem and distress. This culture, this geography is the leading geography where foreigners may feel indigenous.”

Deputy Manager for International Protection in UNHCR Gökçe SARAYDIN who emphasized Turkey is the country which hosts the most refugees said: “Turkey maintains the tradition to protect the refugees it hosts. This tradition is framed inclusively and based on rights with Foreigners and International Protection Law.”

Our Acting Director of Harmonization and Communication Department Ali Rıza BEŞKAT who referred to Turkey’s harmonization works said: “Migration management in Turkey was reconstructed with the increase of migration movement in 2014. In this context, combat against irregular migration, registration and identification are prioritised. Since the middle of 2019 and nowadays, people are rather focused on social harmonization. In this context, studies continue.

Our Director of Samsun Provincial Migration Management Zafer ÇOLAK, who drawed attention to the increase of the number of migrants in the world, said: “We, as Turkey, are in an area in which wars, political violence, and ethnic instability occur consistently. Since we are in this area, quite important mass migration inflow towards Turkey occur today as it did throughout history.”

At the event, notes on social harmonization works were compared with the academicians who study in migration field and the advices and suggestions of our academicians were given a place extensively.

On the second day of the program, international students who study in our country were informed of their rights and obligations and their social harmonization in society.

Our Deputy Director General Dr. Gökçe OK, who was in Samsun for International Students and Academicians Social Harmonization Meetings event, conducted an inspection by touring our Samsun Provincial Migration Management.