Investigation of asylum seeker's children in terms of children's rights in Turkey: The case of Chechen children

Asylum is on the agenda of entire world, especially developed countries? that allow immigrants as a shelter. That was always the case throughout human history, but it was discussed internationally with the results created by World War II. Under which conditions to become asylum seekers and refugees and basic rights of asylum seekers and refugees are arranged by the rules of international law. Turkey's application is vary because the 1951 Geneva Convention was signed with a reservation. Turkey only gives refugee status to asylum-seekers of European origin. Non-European asylum-seekers are not given refugee status they are given by temporary asylum-seeker right until they are settled in a third country by UNHCR. In the vast majority of to become asylum-seeker demand in Turkey comes from people who are not European origin. This restriction in Turkey raises socio-economic problems for these non-European origin asylum seekers. One of the most important examples of this situation in Turkey is the Chechen majority of asylum seekers who seek asylum in Turkey with 1999-2000 Russian-Chechen War. This group has been faced with many problems since they came and they have the status of being longest placing asylum seekers group in Turkey not placed a third country. The majority of them live in refugee camps of Fenerbahçe, Ümraniye, Beykoz and Yalova in Istanbul with lack of many rights because of not receiving refugee status for years. They are living in a helpless manner in these camps and they are continuing their lives with the help of the municipality and NGOs. Refugee children are the most affected people by this distressing situation. In this study, children statuses of these refugees were examined according to the principle of development of Children's Rights Convention. 113 children between the ages of 6-18 lived in Fenerbahçe, Ümraniye, Beykoz and Yalova have been consulted and were given a questionnaire prepared by the researcher. Survey findings are included in results part.