In coordination with the Directorate Normal of Improvement Businesses on the Turkish Ministry of Business and Expertise, the European Union introduced Oct. 5 within the metropolis of Urfa the launch of the ENHANCER mission, developed by the Worldwide Middle for Migration Coverage Improvement (ICMPD).
The mission will award a grant of as much as 30,000 euros (about $35,000) for Syrian businessmen in Turkey whose standing is Under Temporary Protection.
The grant can be awarded to Syrian businessmen within the cities of Urfa, Konya, Kayseri, Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa, Mersin, Adana, Gaziantep, Hatay and Ankara.
Mehmet Caglar Aydin, head of the Grants Administration Staff on the ICMPD, mentioned on the launching convention in Urfa, which was attended by representatives of related establishments and organizations, “The mission goals at growing help for small entrepreneurs and inspiring entrepreneurship. The mission additionally seeks to make sure financial concord between the Turkish and Syrian peoples, as its contributors will have the ability to implement their initiatives for a interval of as much as 12 months via a ten% margin of cofinancing and a 90% margin of grants. Purposes can be accepted till Oct. 29 and are to run out in 2023, and they are going to be evaluated by unbiased examiners.”
Ahmed Haji Osman, proprietor of Technosat for programming and communications providers in Gaziantep, who utilized for the grant, instructed Al-Monitor, “I began my firm two years in the past, months earlier than the outbreak of the coronavirus and the following lockdown, and the financial disaster that Turkey is affected by, which contributed to extra difficulties for Syrian firms. I’ve six workers and I’ve to cowl their medical health insurance and month-to-month salaries, however that is at the moment unattainable as a result of unhealthy financial situations. If my utility is accepted, then the EU will have the ability to cowl the bills of the workforce and broaden the corporate’s competencies.”
The variety of firms owned by Syrians in Turkey quantities to about 13,880, i.e., 29% of the entire foreign-owned firms within the nation, with a capital of about 4 billion Turkish liras ($433.7 million). Most of those companies work within the fields of development, worldwide wholesale commerce, foodstuffs, actual property, rental and the garment trade. The full capital of international firms in Turkey is estimated at about 151 billion Turkish liras ($16.3 billion), in line with the Turkish Commerce Ministry.
These firms have supplied job alternatives for about 44,000 Syrians in Turkey. In accordance with a report by the Financial Coverage Analysis Basis of Turkey, if one household consists of six members on common, then using 44,000 individuals can be equal to assembly the wants of practically 250,000 Syrians, or 7% of the three.5 million Syrians in Turkey.
In accordance with the identical report, 22% of Syrian firms are situated within the southern and southeastern states bordering the Syrian border; 55.4% of Syrian firms focus their gross sales on international markets, as they export their merchandise. The Syrians’ contribution to the Turkish economic system is estimated at greater than half a billion {dollars}, to not point out the job alternatives they supply for Turkish and Syrian employees.
Galal Bakkar, an financial adviser and director of Ecolink Funding Firm in Turkey, instructed Al-Monitor, “EU initiatives in Turkey intention to help Syrians alone. Nevertheless, Turkey wouldn’t enable the implementation of such initiatives with out earmarking a portion of this help for Turkish firms. Alternatively, the EU requires Turkish firms to rent Syrians with the intention to acquire the help supplied.”
He mentioned, “Via these initiatives, the EU is trying to put an finish to the unlawful migration of Syrians towards Europe. The Turkish media shops ought to sort out such initiatives and inform the Turkish folks that the help Syrians get is supplied by the EU and never Turkey with the intention to mitigate racist practices in Turkey.”
Abdel Hakeem al-Masry, minister of economic system within the Syrian opposition’s self-styled interim authorities, instructed Al-Monitor, “These initiatives are usually not all aimed toward supporting Syrians, and in the event that they had been, they’d have been carried out in Syria as an alternative of Turkey. Additionally, this grant is for current initiatives, which implies that it helps people who find themselves already nicely established. The precedence must be centered on employees wishing to start out new companies, as this might contribute to growing initiatives and manpower and creating new job alternatives.”
He added, “These initiatives don’t assist combine Syrians into Turkish society as a result of every mission can be unbiased. If the grant stipulated that the applicant be a Syrian-Turkish firm, it could have contributed to the elimination of racism in opposition to Syrians.”
Round 4 million Syrian refugees at the moment dwell in Turkey Underneath Short-term Safety, and lots of of them work illegally in Turkish factories whereas the EU tries to help small companies established by Syrian refugees.
