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In Pictures: Turkey’s Afghan refugees

Displaced Afghans live in legal limbo in Turkey, and struggle to access employment and welfare services.

Nearly 10,000 Afghan refugees currently live in Turkey. Many of them must wait in legal limbo for Turkey to find a third country to take them in as refugees.
By Ece Goksedef
Published On 8 Jun 2014

Ankara, Turkey – Decades of war have ripped Afghanistan’s society apart.

Despite combat slowing between NATO forces and the Taliban, the war is still felt by thousands of refugees. Many of those displaced have sought refugee and asylum status in Turkey. In May 2013, however, the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) stopped accepting applications from Afghans, and froze all the ones that were being processed.

Now, many of these Afghan refugees live in a constant state of uncertainty. They can’t get work permits, are plagued with impoverished living conditions, and have little means to advocate for themselves. Many feel forgotten.

In order to make their situation known, Afghan refugees from across Turkey have camped out in front of the UNHCR office in Ankara, in protest of their living conditions.

Afghans have to wait up to two years before being granted refugee status, but UNHCR made a statement in May 2013 saying that all Afghan applications for refugee and asylum status have been frozen.
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Afghans had already been complaining about being ignored by the UNHCR before the statement, but now many feel even more forgotten.
Some Afghan refugees or asylum seekers have been waiting to be sent to a third country for seven years.
Afghan asylum seekers have begun protesting in front of the UNHCR building in Ankara. Since the first week of March 2014, many of the protesters have been living in tents, carrying banners that say "Afghans are humans, too, as all the other refugees".
The protesters have gathered all across Turkey. They demand that UNHCR give them better quality of life care, including medical care and education.
Nimetullah Farhadi was one the protestors in Ankara. Farhadi lives in Nev(***)ehir with his family, but he left them to attend the protests. He had to return to work and make money for his wife and four children.
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Nimetullah doesn(***)t have a work permit, and cannot speak Turkish. As a result, he can only be employed in manual labour. He does not earn enough money to support his family.
Maryam, 13, wants to be a teacher. Her father and mother say that they have lost all hope for their children, and say they have even lost their will to live. But Maryam is still hopeful. She told Al Jazeera: "No matter where, it doesn(***)t matter, I just want to study legally and to have a life, be a teacher".
It has been two years since the Farhadis came to Turkey. Since UNHCR revoked their refugee status, they don(***)t know when they can leave Turkey.