25 February 2016•Update: 19 April 2016
By Servet Gunerigok
KILIS, Turkey
Turkey’s southern province of Kilis is currently hosting a record number of Syrian refugees, with calls being made for the region to be nominated for a Nobel peace prize. Kilis is also the capital of the small province with the same name.
However, while residents agree on opening their border to their southern neighbors there are concerns that the huge refugee influx into the city has brought about mixed fortunes for themselves, with some small businesses seeing a spike in their trade while others talk about an increase in rents.
More than 2.6 million Syrians arrived in Turkey following Syrian Bashar al-Assad regime’s crackdown after a peaceful protest in 2011. Of these, 127,000 Syrian refugees are officially registered in Kilis, which exceeds the local population of around 90,000.
Fatih Engin, a photographer who runs a small studio in a shop in Kilis, said his province was a quiet place before Syrians arrived in droves from across the border.
Not only did Turkey did the right thing by opening its borders to refugees, it also helped people like him who ran small businesses in the area, Engin told Anadolu Agency.
Also, he said the streets of Kilis were full of life now as many Syrians like to stay out late.
“Once, here the streets were empty but now they are cheerful with the presence of Syrians,” he said, adding that Syrians generally go home late and get up around noon.
The 31-year-old said Kilis has done everything it can in hosting Syrians. “They are oppressed people and we must open our doors,” he added.
However, while people like Engin saw the glass as half full, there were some who saw it as half empty.
Hasim Seyrekoglu, who lived in Istanbul before opening a perfume shop in Kilis in 2012, pointed to the increase in rents since refugees arrived.
According to Seyrekoglu, he used to pay 320 Turkish liras ($110) a month when he first arrived but now pays 1,100 liras ($374).
He said some landlords were exploiting the situation, threatening to replace small shopkeepers like him with Syrian clients.
Pharmacist Ahmet Kulan said Turks and Syrians lived peacefully in Kilis but this did not mean the overwhelming number of guests in the province was not having an impact.
“Rents for homes and workplaces have increased,” he said. “Yes, business volume has also increased but the increase in rents is higher than [business] volume.”
The Kilis-based real estate agency Ozcelik Emlak disputed that the situation was as dismal as some disgruntled shopkeepers were claiming. “There is an increase, yes I do not deny it, but renting property is always expensive, whether you are Turk or Arab,” a company representative said.
Despite the expectations of many outsiders, Kilis remains a calm place. While Syrians sell packets of tissues or Syrian coffee on the street, there is an absence of the beggars who are present in other Turkish cities.
Three women sitting at a cafe told Anadolu Agency of their impressions of their new guests.
Nazmiye, who would not give her surname, said she never felt threatened by the presence of Syrians in her neighborhood.
Her friend, a teacher, said she worked at a state school where she taught Syrian refugee students, who she said had paved the way to employment in the province.
“Many university graduates and jobseekers in the province have found a chance of working at camps and at state schools,” she explained.
Last week, Kilis Mayor Hasan Kara told how residents had come to live in harmony with their Syrian guests.
“Although there are more refugees than our population, a social incident has not occurred, which reveals our hospitability,” he said.
