WHAT ILLEGAL ARMENIAN WORKERS REMIND US
By Kadir Dikbas

Zaman, Turkey
Oct 14 2006

Wishing to protect the "genocide" lie with a law, France keeps
insisting on its hostile attitude. The bill was passed in the French
parliament yesterday. The next step is the Senate, and Turkey is now
discussing what should be done about the bill.

One of the suggestions put forward is to deport illegal Armenian
citizens, estimated to be 40,000-70,000, who are working in Turkey.

This issue, that had not been discussed very much previously, flared
up after the French parliament began discussing a bill to penalize
those who deny the events of 1915 as genocide.

It is hard to understand why the illegal immigration issue had been
disregarded until now, despite a systematic campaign to portray Turks
as perpetrators of the so-called Armenian genocide and France trying
to distort history through political means. Now we are rightly asking
why this issue of illegal employment has been overlooked when it is
extremely difficult for our citizens to find a job. However, there
are also some who think these poor workers should not be disturbed.

The truth is that Turkey is facing serious illegal labor problems.

The problem is not only limited to Armenians. Many people from
neighboring countries come to Turkey and work in all kinds of
businesses. Coming as tourists, workers from Eastern Europe, the
Middle East and some Asian countries usually work in small and
middle-size enterprises, particularly in construction, molding and
casting, leather, textiles, plastic, agriculture, shipping, loading
and unloading, cleaning, sales and the hotel industry.

Because they work illegally, they earn very low wages under difficult
conditions and may be exploited. Apart from these workers, other
illegal aliens are engaged in prostitution, smuggling and drugs.

Turkey began to import labor officially after 1960, but the country
first confronted the inflow of illegal labor on a large scale after the
disintegration of the USSR. Today, illegal immigration has reached
huge dimensions. These people come to Turkey as tourists with a
one-month or three-month visa but do not return to their respective
countries. Some renew their visas and continue business as usual.

Others enter Turkey illegally.

Nobody knows the exact number of illegal workers in Turkey but it
is estimated to be one million. The most noteworthy report on this
issue is the one prepared by the Turkish Labor and Social Security
Ministry, entitled "Informal Employment and Employment of Illegal
Foreign Workers." The following lines attract attention in the 2004
report: "As no clear data could be obtained on the number of illegal
foreign workers in our country, there is no official figure on the
anticipated extent of illegal foreign employment in Turkey.

Nonetheless, it is estimated that illegal foreign employment in Turkey
has reached very serious dimensions, and the numbers are clearly in
the hundreds of thousands." This figure is estimated to be between
500,000 and one million, according to the Confederation of Turkish
Trade Unions, the report said.

Even though the dimension and the damage caused by illegal foreign
employment cannot be fully determined, ordinary citizens living or
spending their holidays, particularly in Istanbul and tourist regions,
can clearly see the scope and negative effects of illegal labor.

We all know that unemployment is one of Turkey’s biggest problems
today. With 2.2 million people currently out of work, our unemployment
rate stands at 8.8 percent.

Illegal foreign workers employed for low salaries do not only increase
the number of unemployed Turkish citizens but also decrease revenue
for insurance premiums and taxes. Another dimension of the issue
is the transfer of income. We think many foreigners registered as
tourists bring foreign currency to the country but in fact it is just
the opposite. Even if we calculate on the basis that every illegal
worker transfers an average of $1,000 a year — at least — to his
country, the total amount is around $1 billion.

Even Northern Cyprus fines Turks working illegally in the country
and returns them to Turkey. Does Turkey, which should give priority
to its own unemployed citizens, have the luxury of disregarding a
million illegal foreign workers?