When I worked with refugees...

I have a new job for the summer, something absurd and in Ankara that I'll talk about later. The job I left, was only part-time with the International Organization for Migration. I was the "airport guy," though my title was, and I'm not kidding: Identification Authenticating Officer.

I never had a badge, my biggest lament in that position. I would go to the airport, usually around 2 AM, with another IOM staffer, and we would help assist refugees with their exit procedure. This amounted to coordinating 35 refugees, usually from Iran or Iraq, and sometimes E. Africa, to get all their baggage checked, documents verified and in order, and conveyed through passport control to the airplane. It usually took between three and five hours, depending mostly on the police.

It is the kind of work that involves managing a great deal of chaos. The population I was working with was, understandably, traumatized by their experience. In short, refugees are often treated as criminals in Turkey. You don't ever want to be a refugee, and you don't want that for your family.

Having fled their homes under duress (because of war, persecution, famine, biblical-style badness, etc.), these people were subjected to the treatment of the Turkish police and legal system, which regards refugees in much the same way that the US government does illegal immigrants. People are detained, shuffled around, and occasionally they get separated from family; some are abused, subjected to extortion, or poorly fed and clothed.

The IOM, and several other organizations, are working to change this, but change is slow.

By the time I saw a refugee, they had likely been in Turkey anywhere from nine months to five years. I even met a couple who had been here for eight. So, when people are within hours of leaving to goto the US, where they have been set up with a job and a home and hope, they are a little agitated and needy. One gets lots of questions, worried looks, and I had to learn to try to be a comforting and empathetic person, while still directing the group.

Did I mention it was 2 AM?

Five plus years ago, I remember what was in the news, and what people were say, in the months preceding the Iraq war. There pro/con style arguments. There was a staunch, principled opposition. There were "hawks" and "doves" (why we anthropomorphize those positions I will never understand).

I was a "dove," because I thought the war was a bad idea. I even went to a protest in Washington D.C., to be the best possible dove I could be.

In all the talk I heard about the coming war, the planning, the opposition, etc., I don't remember anyone mentioning the potential plight of refugees. I know I never thought about it, at the time.

I was with the IOM for about six months, before moving the Ankara. It is work I'd would like to continue... except 2 AM is a strange hour to be up several times a week. Anyhow, my experience there was really informative, and I'll have more to say about it. With the total Iraqi refugee population topping two million, it will continue to be a problem for Turkey, and the region as a whole. Long after the Iraq war ends, there will probably still be talk of the "Iraqi diaspora".

I just reckoned I oughta preface my connection to it, before I said any more. While I still worked the job, I was taking notes on the experience, and there are some funny, as well a some sad stories, that I mean to publish here.