Education remains an alarming concern for scores of Syrian refugees

With only 10 percent of the 2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey having been placed in refugee camps, problems involving finding food and shelter persists, but none more alarming than the education of children.
With only 10 percent of the 2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey having been placed in refugee camps, problems involving finding food and shelter persists, but none more alarming than the education of children.


Date posted: June 29, 2015

ÖMER ÖNDER / ANKARA

The topic of providing education to the Syrian refugee children was recently addressed by a meeting hosted by Kimse Yok Mu, the Journalist and Writers Foundation and the Peace Islands Institute (PII) in a panel held at the United Nations in New York.

Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2012, close to 3 million refugees have fled to neighboring countries; 2 million alone to Turkey.

The problem of education is prevalent in all countries hosting large numbers of Syrian refugees – including Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq as well as Turkey – underlines Washington-based think tank RAND Corporation representative Shelly Culbertson.

She adds that finding school buildings and supplies remains a key concern but, even more alarming, children are being left in a situation that they have to help their parents instead of studying.

International Strategic Research Foundation (USAK) researcher Fatma Yılmaz Elmas warns that a whole generation of Syrian refugees are being raised on the streets. “Drug rings, arms dealers, terror groups are all in an effort to confiscate the children and it will not be surprising when a child who is living on the street, hungry and discarded by society will enter a world of crime.”

Secretary General of the Kimse Yok Mu non-profit Savaş Metin highlights that his organization has opened two schools, providing education to some 120 thousand students in Turkey. Kimse Yok Mu is also engaged in healthcare, food, rent and clothing drives, working together on 140 separate projects. In Turkey’s southeastern province of Kilis alone the non-profit grants food to 4,000 Syrian refugees on a daily basis.

Source: BGNNews , June 28, 2015


Related News

“These schools are cultivating future’s prominent Malians”

The new campus, to be comprised of two schools buildings and a dorm, is rising on nearly 3.4 acres. Established in 2002, the Turkish schools in Mali are currently offering education to some 2 thousand students in the West African country.

Bosnians Protest at Student’s Arrest in Turkish Crackdown

Masetovic, a 21-year-old student at the University of Usak, was arrested last month in the western Turkish city, accused of being part of a network led by exiled cleric Fetullah Gulen. “At the time of the coup in Turkey, my son was at home in Bosnia and Herzegovina and had nothing to do with the events there,” his father Husein Masetovic was quoted as saying.

[Press Release] The Corruption and Slander against the Hizmet Movement

Prime Minister marketed the historic graft investigation as a “coup against the government” and he targeted the Hizmet movement by voicing this claim first in the pro-government media outlets and then in the election rallies along with a host of unthinkable lies and slanders.

Closing prep schools as a new form of official tyranny

Thanks to the prep school system, with reasonable payments, the children of the “Black Turks” or “Mountain Turks” gain the chance to compete with the children of “White Turks” under equal standards. They, after graduating from good universities, become judges, teachers and academics and act as a catalyst in undermining pathological ways of thinking like labeling people as reactionary.

German Greens MEP backs Gülen school official’s plea against extradition

“To be a teacher is not a crime,” said Rebecca Harms, a German politician who is current head of the Greens-European Free Alliance in the EU parliament. She was speaking at a press conference in Tbilisi after visiting Mustafa Emre Cabuk in prison on Sunday.

Erdogan in Africa: Gulen and trade ties

Erdogan wants the Gulen-linked schools in Africa to be closed down, yet they are the very educational establishments which are popular with Africa’s middle class. They are an inexpensive alternative to French schools. If parents send their children to Turkish schools, it is not because the schools are Turkish, but because they employ good teachers. Africa’s middle class want good schools.

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Gülen lawyers file complaint against prosecutors over wrongful probe

Practicing Muslims and negotiating with the Kurdists

Acting in ‘Selam’ a once-in-a-lifetime experience for actors

BBC Interviews Fethullah Gulen (Powerful but reclusive Turkish cleric)

The Peace Islands Institute’s 5th Annual Law Enforcement Appreciation Award

Abant Platform urges government, protesters to exercise common sense

Students visiting Turkey bid one another a teary farewell

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News