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Writer's pictureBaris Yazici

Syrian Refugees / Turkey


I am on my way to a kitesurf spot "Akyaka", on the right of the motorway this huge field appeared; a field for sun dried tomato processing. Without thinking too long, parked my car to the nearest suitable place and walked back there through the bushes.

Honestly I doubted if i would be welcomed to the field, it was really hot and working under such conditions might make the workers nervous. I entered the field, a child welcomed me first behind the wire netting, made a photo of him and showed it, bam! The ice was immediately broken, he smiled and called the others.

Apparently the workers were Syrian refugees . Only one of them was speaking some Turkish, others only Arabic. Showing my camera asked for a permission for photographing with gestures. With friendly smiles I got their permission.

The car thermometer was showing 38° outside temperature, however in the field it was hottest conditions I have experienced in my life. Due to the white plastic sheet under the tomatos the reflected sunlight causes a lot more heat. They showed me a 5 and a 0 with their hands, 50° was meant... I totally felt it.

Showing a case of tomato he said "1 Lira" which is about 0.25 Euro cents, only 0.25 cents for a case of tomato they get. The big question came to my mind was, would I still be so friendly under these working conditions? I totally doubt it.

I wanted to tip them. It is never a solution of course i know....However I was rejected since money without any afford is not a "helal" way of earning, he responded and added: "haram, haram".

They sleep in tents near to the field. The working conditions are extremely hard but they looked happy. I guess they count themselves as being lucky, compared the left ones in the home country.

Video music credits: Fazil Say / Insan Insan :

To me, thanks to today's global economy it is possible to sell products to every country, no matter it is near or far, powerful economies sell their products everywhere and gain more power. Similarly, again no matter near or far, each country has a share of responsibility in this and the more is the GDP the bigger is the share. Thats at least my opinion which leads me to finish this post with a list including some countries GDPs and number of refugees accepted so far. The masters of global economy, except for Germany, take quite a tiny share...

Turkey

Number of refugees: 3.1 million

Global GDP ranking: 17th.

Lebanon

Number of refugees: 2.2 million

Global GDP ranking: 81th.

Jordan

Number of refugees: 1.2 million

Global GDP ranking: 91th.

Germany

Number of refugees: 600,000

Global GDP ranking: 4th.

Sweden

Number of refugees: 110,000

Global GDP ranking: 23th.

Canada

Number of refugees: 62,000

Global GDP ranking: 10th.

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Austria

Number of refugees: 46,000

Global GDP ranking: 28th.

Netherlands

Number of refugees: 32,000

Global GDP ranking: 18th.

United States

Number of refugees: 16,000

Global GDP ranking: 1st

France

Number of refugees: 12,000

Global GDP ranking: 6th

United Kingdom

Number of refugees: 9,500

Global GDP ranking: 5th

Italy

Number of refugees: 2,500

Global GDP ranking: 8th

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Countries like China (2th GDP), Japan (3th GDP), Spain (14th GDP) do not even appear on the list.

Source: Wikipedia.

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