Transit Migration in North Cyprus (TRNC)

This study aims at exploring the flows of transit migration to North Cyprus by type: whether or not it is labour, refugee or asylum. To determine that, the question of which push factors lay behind transit migration in the origin country tries to be answered. Also this study seeks to analyze origins, routes and destinations of transit migrants in TRNC from 2004 to 2008. In addition, the paper analyzes what kind of measures TRNC government was taking to deal with illegal transit migrants, human trafficking and smuggling through its borders, and how non-state institutions in TRNC considered and dealt with transit migrants and especially refugees.


Introduction
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)  such as Malta and Cyprus, inclusion in the EU regime has made them attractive for illegal migrants and/or asylum-seekers not so much in their own right, but as transit stages to northern Europe." TRNC became a transit country where people from many countries try to migrate to EU countries, first to the RoC, illegally as labour migrants, refugee or asylum seekers (øçduygu, 2005, p. 2). Since 2000 TRNC has received many "illegal" transit migrants from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Georgia and other Asian and African countries. This study aims at exploring the flows of (irregular) transit migration to North Cyprus by type: whether or not it is labour, refugee or asylum. To determine that, the question of which push factors lay behind transit migration in the origin country tries to be answered. In parallel to that, this study seeks to analyze origins, routes and destinations of transit migrants in TRNC from 2004 to 2008. Moreover, it tries to analyze what kind of measures TRNC government was taking to deal with illegal transit migrants, human trafficking and smuggling through its borders, and how non-state institutions (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and human rights organization) in TRNC considered and dealt with transit migrants and especially refugees. And then it is argued that TRNC government had a several difficulties in combating and handling the problems aroused from illegal, transit migration because of its internationally unrecognized position.

Migration, Illegal Migration, Transit Migration
Migration can simply be defined as people's act of leaving their homeland for another location with a specific purpose. In other words, an individual or a community travels from one region, state or country to another one. In this context migration requires experiencing a life style that is intensified by horizontal mobility. Migration can be the result of natural, political, social or economic conditions. The geographical events, need for a shelter and security concerns might also trigger people`s willingness to ϭϭϮ ƉŝƉŚĂŶǇ͗ :ŽƵƌŶĂů ŽĨ dƌĂŶƐĚŝƐĐŝƉůŝŶĂƌǇ ^ƚƵĚŝĞƐ͕ sŽů͘ ϳ͘ EŽ͘ ϭ͕ ;ϮϬϭϰͿ Ξ &ĂĐƵůƚǇ ŽĨ ƌƚƐ ĂŶĚ ^ŽĐŝĂů ^ĐŝĞŶĐĞƐ move. In the early centuries, it was generally the result of people`s need for food, settlement and security which forced them to move from one region to another. Towards the beginning of and during the twentieth century the world witnessed huge migration waves where hundreds of thousands of people moved and immigrated into new regions due to great wars, annexations, political disturbances and search for a better life. This trend accelerated with the establishment of nation states. Consequently, this led to acceleration of the legal establishment and institutionalization of border and passport controls.
Western social scientists came up with some explanations for this trend and specified push and pull factors of migration, based on their observation and research in their local communities and historical experience. In this sense there is a common consensus that people`s economic, social, political issues and inability to meet their primary needs within their geographical area, and the absence of optimism to overcome these issues in the near future can be considered as a push factor. On the other hand, when existing problems make their life uncomfortable, these factors drag people away from their place of residence to a new region where they find a hope for living in freedom and better conditions. These positive features are known as pull factors of migration (Kushner & K. Knox, 2001, p. 1).
The immigrants who leave their countries with the fear that they might be the victims of cruelty often are put in the same category with the people who immigrate to find a new job, or to ϭϭϯ ƉŝƉŚĂŶǇ͗ :ŽƵƌŶĂů ŽĨ dƌĂŶƐĚŝƐĐŝƉůŝŶĂƌǇ ^ƚƵĚŝĞƐ͕ sŽů͘ ϳ͘ EŽ͘ ϭ͕ ;ϮϬϭϰͿ Ξ &ĂĐƵůƚǇ ŽĨ ƌƚƐ ĂŶĚ ^ŽĐŝĂů ^ĐŝĞŶĐĞƐ get a proper education or to gather with their families. Although they had been practiced for centuries, the terms asylum seeker and refugee gained an institutional framework only in 1919 with the establishment of League of Nations. According to Dünya Mültecilerinin Durumu (2001) by 20 th century there were around 150 million immigrants who went from their home states for other countries. This number was equivalent to 2.5 percent of world population by then. And around 10 percent of this 150 million people were refugees.
United Nations defines refugee as someone who has wellfounded fear of torture and/or persecution in his state due to civil conflict or armed rivalry, hence with a legitimate fear of danger he asks for refuge from another state (BMMYK, 1997). The term `asylum seeker` is used in English to define the status of one who seeks for refuge. Person is considered to be an asylum seeker if he or she faces a threat or violation of his/her rights in his/her basic living conditions and from an official authority or state institution, and if he/she is left without the protection of his/her state and seeks to be settled up in another country.
In general, asylum seekers might face some difficulties until the process is over. Especially when the process of granting full refugee status becomes too long the situation gets too deterrent. Under state law, rights of asylum seekers are much limited compared to refugees. In some cases, there is overlapping of domestic and international law on refugees, and this leads to misunderstanding and misinterpretation regarding the rights of ϭϭϰ ƉŝƉŚĂŶǇ͗ :ŽƵƌŶĂů ŽĨ dƌĂŶƐĚŝƐĐŝƉůŝŶĂƌǇ ^ƚƵĚŝĞƐ͕ sŽů͘ ϳ͘ EŽ͘ ϭ͕ ;ϮϬϭϰͿ Ξ &ĂĐƵůƚǇ ŽĨ ƌƚƐ ĂŶĚ ^ŽĐŝĂů ^ĐŝĞŶĐĞƐ asylum seekers. Because under this category, there are wide range of people whose application for refugee status is about to be completed, those whose application will be rejected, and those who will not be granted a refugee status but can still reside in the host country for a limited time. To overcome this complex situation UNHCR receives applications and until given a final verdict all asylum seekers are identified as `presumptive refugees`. Under the protection of these statues, people exercise the right of nonrefoulment which forbids states from returning asylum seekers to the regions where they will be subjected to persecution and torture again. Asylum seekers live under this protection until they receive a final decision. (Hein, 1993, pp. 43-44).
The term refugee is used for someone who applies for UNHCR to be granted official refuge, and whose application is considered by `Status Determination Unit` and approved after all the interviews and investigation. After the aproval of refugee`s application by UNHCR there is second round of interview for financial support. Unless the second interview ends with the conclusion that refugee is in financial need, certain amount of income is provided for her/him. Definitions we refer ti in this work have a clear legal framework for government authorities.
However, for social scientist it is not possible to say how they came to a consesnus about the right definition of these words. Sociologist Hein, who is well known for his studies about ϭϭϱ ƉŝƉŚĂŶǇ͗ :ŽƵƌŶĂů ŽĨ dƌĂŶƐĚŝƐĐŝƉůŝŶĂƌǇ ^ƚƵĚŝĞƐ͕ sŽů͘ ϳ͘ EŽ͘ ϭ͕ ;ϮϬϭϰͿ Ξ &ĂĐƵůƚǇ ŽĨ ƌƚƐ ĂŶĚ ^ŽĐŝĂů ^ĐŝĞŶĐĞƐ refugees, linked refugees to economic reasons and asylum seekers to political dimensions (Ibid.,).
Usually it is not easy to differentiate between asylum seekers and refugees on the bases of political and economic reasons. Similarly, it is not so easy to differentiate between immigrant, asylum seeker and refugee from one another with clear distinctions. Hence, these words and definitions are often used by social scientists interchangeably (Hacket, 1996, p. 9). Using immigrant, refugee and asylum seeker interchangeably and analyzing all three categories under the concept of refugee leads to this common conclusion: "Refugee is someone who was forced to leave his hometown and bear some threats in order to live in a safe region". Another definition stated that "Refugees are often considered as people who lost their home, family connections, friendships, social environments and financial assistances" (Williams, 1993, p. 135). There are no concrete differences among the migrants, refugees and illegal migrants. A person can request the status of ϭϭϲ ƉŝƉŚĂŶǇ͗ :ŽƵƌŶĂů ŽĨ dƌĂŶƐĚŝƐĐŝƉůŝŶĂƌǇ ^ƚƵĚŝĞƐ͕ sŽů͘ ϳ͘ EŽ͘ ϭ͕ ;ϮϬϭϰͿ Ξ &ĂĐƵůƚǇ ŽĨ ƌƚƐ ĂŶĚ ^ŽĐŝĂů ^ĐŝĞŶĐĞƐ asylum seeker due to outrage of his very primary rights and security concerns and meanwhile grant residency and work permit hence granting the status of a refugee. On the other hand an immigrant who settled in the country in a legal way might lose his rights due to breaking some rules or expiration of the time. This person can stay in the country by illegal means (Angenendt and Edward, 2002).
Illegal immigrants often arrive in the host country by migrant smuggling and human trafficking and pay huge amounts to people who organized the delivery. Throughout the journey they bear the risk of being deported, being a part of an international crime and being sent to the court. They cannot carry any official document for identification. They destroy all the identification documents in order not to be identified. The smugglers organize all the process and make sure it will go smoothly. Very often fake passports and visa are used; the journey may last months since they pass through several states. Due to the difficulties and possible problems that can be faced at the border passing's, the illegal human smuggling organizations also arrange the accommodation at the borders (Ibid, p. 11).
National and international migration laws determine the legal or illegal status of a migrant. For any given legislation the number of illegal migrants depends on the social-political and economic conditions of the sending countries and on the organizations which favor frontier transit, but also on push-pull forces in the host countries. This note elaborates on why ϭϭϳ ƉŝƉŚĂŶǇ͗ :ŽƵƌŶĂů ŽĨ dƌĂŶƐĚŝƐĐŝƉůŝŶĂƌǇ ^ƚƵĚŝĞƐ͕ sŽů͘ ϳ͘ EŽ͘ ϭ͕ ;ϮϬϭϰͿ Ξ &ĂĐƵůƚǇ ŽĨ ƌƚƐ ĂŶĚ ^ŽĐŝĂů ^ĐŝĞŶĐĞƐ employers decide to use irregular workers -be they locals or foreign nationals; why workers decide to reside illegally in another country; why institutions enforce the law; and last but not least how society pushes institutional action or enforces legislation directly. Without social enforcement it is very costly to institutionally enforce a law which limits employment and income access to legal workers in societies where irregular employment is common practice (Venturini, 2009).
A second way of answering the question would be to focus on the sheer number of forced migrants in the world today, which has been estimated at between 100 and 200 million (Castles, 2003, p. 15). This phenomenon is a product of wider processes of social and economic change, processes that are normally referred to as 'globalisation' and which appear to be creating an ever increasing North-South divide in living standards, human security, and access to justice and human rights protection. It follows that forced migration, including the 'migration industry' of people trafficking and smuggling, can provide a kind of window on these processes, a way of examining and understanding them (Turton, 2003).
My main point in this section is that the distinctions we make within the wider category of forced migrants are an artifact of policy concerns rather than of empirical observation and scientific enquiry. It would be interesting to know exactly when the term forced migrant itself first entered into use in policy and academic circles, but this must have been fairly recently. For it ϭϭϴ ƉŝƉŚĂŶǇ͗ :ŽƵƌŶĂů ŽĨ dƌĂŶƐĚŝƐĐŝƉůŝŶĂƌǇ ^ƚƵĚŝĞƐ͕ sŽů͘ ϳ͘ EŽ͘ ϭ͕ ;ϮϬϭϰͿ Ξ &ĂĐƵůƚǇ ŽĨ ƌƚƐ ĂŶĚ ^ŽĐŝĂů ^ĐŝĞŶĐĞƐ must have been a response to the narrowing down of the range of attribution of the term refugee to a legally defined category through the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. It then became necessary to treat the term 'refugee' which, in the language of everyday speech can mean anyone who has been forced to leave his or her home, as the name of a much narrower category of people, with special rights in international law and with a special call on the assistance of the international community. The term 'forced migrant' therefore came into existence as the name of the wider class, from which the legal category of 'refugee' had been 'extracted'.
When creating a legal category, of course, it is very important to be clear about its limits, about the membership criteria to be used. The refugee definition provided in the 1951

Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967
Protocol is, of course, the main standard of refugee status today.
This definition provides two main criteria: persecution and 'alienage'. The refugee is a person who has crossed an international border because of a well-founded fear of being persecuted' in his or her state of origin (ibid.,).
Then you have the new category of 'asylum seekers', people who have made a claim for asylum but whose cases have not yet been determined. This category has emerged in response to the growing difficulty of making clear distinctions between people who are moving for political as opposed to economic reasons, since political upheavals go hand in hand with violent ϭϭϵ ƉŝƉŚĂŶǇ͗ :ŽƵƌŶĂů ŽĨ dƌĂŶƐĚŝƐĐŝƉůŝŶĂƌǇ ^ƚƵĚŝĞƐ͕ sŽů͘ ϳ͘ EŽ͘ ϭ͕ ;ϮϬϭϰͿ Ξ &ĂĐƵůƚǇ ŽĨ ƌƚƐ ĂŶĚ ^ŽĐŝĂů ^ĐŝĞŶĐĞƐ conflict, economic distress and human rights abuses. Asylum seekers are, not surprisingly, found mainly in Northern countries, where they are assumed by governments and public alike to be economic migrants using the asylum procedure to circumvent immigration controls. When the number of asylum applications in W Europe began to rise in the early 1980s, partly no doubt because of the closing down of the migration channel, the immediate response of states was to introduce so-called 'restrictive asylum practices' -visa restrictions, carrier sanctions, safe third country and safe country of origin concepts, narrower interpretations of the 1951 Convention. These restrictions were successfully evaded by a large numbers of migrants using transnational social networks, new transport and communication technologies and people smugglers. It does not, of course, mean that asylum seekers are not 'genuine' just because they use migrant networks to make their way into Western Europe, nor because they make use of the services of people smugglers. What it does mean is that it has become increasingly difficult, in practice, to separate out refugees from economic migrants, and yet such a separation is seen by governments as an essential condition of an effective asylum and immigration policy. Nor is this just a European issue. The Afghan refugee crisis of the past twenty years, for example, has been superimposed on a history of seasonal economic migration, within the Central Asian region and beyond, going back hundreds of years (Ibid., pp. 52-53).   to Girne and Gazimagusa ports. When we compare with other routes, this one is rarely utilized by human traffickers. The last one is that transit migrants use legal ways to enter the TRNC, usually as tourists. Usually they get lodged in one hotel and then enter to South Cyprus with the help of smugglers. In some cases they are taken from Ercan airport and directly transferred to cross over the Green Line. ϭϮϱ ƉŝƉŚĂŶǇ͗ :ŽƵƌŶĂů ŽĨ dƌĂŶƐĚŝƐĐŝƉůŝŶĂƌǇ ^ƚƵĚŝĞƐ͕ sŽů͘ ϳ͘ EŽ͘ ϭ͕ ;ϮϬϭϰͿ Ξ &ĂĐƵůƚǇ ŽĨ ƌƚƐ ĂŶĚ ^ŽĐŝĂů ^ĐŝĞŶĐĞƐ In using the first two routes Karpaz peninsula came to the fore as a main geographical area where the most cases of detained illegal migrants happen. These migrants who tried to enter to TRNC have used sea routes and especially empty and long coastlines of Karpaz peninsula. These are not strictly controlled and so become the most suitable places for human smugglers and transit migrants.

Ferry Link between TRNC and Syria
Regarding the last route, the ferry link between North Cyprus and Syria achieved significance in recent times. In October 2007 Syria allowed a ferry link closed since the 1970s from Turkish Cypriot Gazimagusa to Latakia. It restarts twice weekly. As Gaziamgusa Port officials stated, "the ferry service was stopped during the winter time due to bad weather conditions, but it will be restarted when tourism season starts" (Kıbrıs Gazetesi, 2008). In the case of Syrians who came to TRNC via ferry in a legal way it is not easy to separate travellers from migrants. Some of them did not return Latakia ferry link started. He said that those who came with ferry services paid 1600 US Dollars for five nights stay. They stayed at hotel for one or two nights and then, leaving their passport and belongings at hotel, they crossed to the south, but they do not have any idea about which ways they are using in crossing to the south (Sözcü, 2008.). The Greek Cypriot authorities accused the Turkish Cypriot administration and Syria on the ferry services as a responsible for increasing smuggling of illegal immigrants into the north.

Human Smugglers
According to Crisis Group Europe Report (2008)

Case: Fake Passports
At the same time according to the police station; some refugees tried to enter to the TRNC with false stamp of their passports. 6 Georgian nationals were arrested with the false stamped passports, while entering to TRNC from Girne Port.
These passports were prepared in Alanya, Antalya. These illegal migrants were sentenced for three days (Star Kıbrıs, 2007).  Cyprus, the plan was for them to be smuggled to the south of the island, where they would be able to apply for political asyluman application that would almost certainly have been granted. But things started to go wrong when the Turkish Cypriot authorities caught wind of the human trafficking ring that had helped smuggle them. In a matter of days, Osama and his seven family members, two suspected Turkish traffickers, a Turkish Cypriot go-between, and a Turkish Cypriot immigration policeman were all in custody. The children were placed in an orphanage in north ϭϮϵ ƉŝƉŚĂŶǇ͗ :ŽƵƌŶĂů ŽĨ dƌĂŶƐĚŝƐĐŝƉůŝŶĂƌǇ ^ƚƵĚŝĞƐ͕ sŽů͘ ϳ͘ EŽ͘ ϭ͕ ;ϮϬϭϰͿ Ξ &ĂĐƵůƚǇ ŽĨ ƌƚƐ ĂŶĚ ^ŽĐŝĂů ^ĐŝĞŶĐĞƐ Nicosia, while Osama and his wife and sister-in-law were jailed, pending a trial for illegal entry into the north. The Turks and Turkish Cypriots were also jailed, pending their trial for membership of a human smuggling ring. Facing legal proceedings against themselves, Osama and his family had become key witnesses in a high-profile trial against the human traffickers.

Case I: A Group of Syrian Migrants
Osama's lawyer Yusuf Tekinay, working with the UNHCR representative in north Cyprus Kivanc Aktug, recently managed, under condition of bail, to secure the release of Osama's wife and sister-in-law so that they can look after the children.
However, under Turkish Cypriot law, they and Osama could face up to ten years in jail for entering the island with forged documents. Aktug says, "This is an exceptional case because Osama is the number one witness in the case, and the authorities are afraid he will go to the south if he is released." Aktug is confident, however, that once the case is concluded the judge will not hand down a custodial sentence, and that the UNHCR will eventually grant the family political asylum, either in the EU, the US or Canada. In fact, Aktug says that even though laws on illegal entry and forged documents are strict in the north, the authorities are usually lenient towards those whom the UNHCR say are genuine asylum seekers.
Osama and his family will also be helped by the fact that his case has triggered a report written by young Human Rights lawyer Öncel Polili on behalf of the Turkish Cypriot Human Rights Foundation (KTIHV) aimed at applying further pressure on ϭϯϬ ƉŝƉŚĂŶǇ͗ :ŽƵƌŶĂů ŽĨ dƌĂŶƐĚŝƐĐŝƉůŝŶĂƌǇ ^ƚƵĚŝĞƐ͕ sŽů͘ ϳ͘ EŽ͘ ϭ͕ ;ϮϬϭϰͿ Ξ &ĂĐƵůƚǇ ŽĨ ƌƚƐ ĂŶĚ ^ŽĐŝĂů ^ĐŝĞŶĐĞƐ the Turkish Cypriot authorities. It also hopes to lead to an updating of the law that will end all imprisonment for asylum seeker captured in the north. The family's lawyer Yusuf Tekinay said that he had received reassurances from the judge presiding over the case that Osama's wife and sister-in-law's cases would not be taken to the high court. "This means that they are unlikely to spend more time in jail," Tekinay said. Osama, on the other hand, remains in jail with no such reassurances, a virtual hostage to the authorities and their ongoing but sometimes erratic mission to smash the smuggling rings.

A Case: Coming from Syria: Economic reason
In September 2007, 47 illegal migrants who were in a 11.5 meters fishing boat were arrested by TRNC coast guards in near to øskele, Karpaz. Together with them, the captain of the boat, Aftimous Dib (65)

Case: Crossing to the UK Base
In 2001 and 2003 some migrants entered to North Cyprus with illegal ways and later they passed to the UK Base where they applied for asylum with a goal to go to England. They made several attempts to have English pasport, but they were refused in every time and they continued to be kept in the Base. (www.pratikhaber.com/new/haberdetay.asp).