In the Governorate of Gaziantep, we are trying to build a bridge between Italy and Turkey by deepening the knowledge of Turkish Civil Society with the policies of European Union concerning human rights of refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants. In order to do this, Italian authorities and Social Organisations included in the SPRAR system are working in partnership with Turkish local institutions and CSOs.
Turkey is now revisiting national reception policies and regulations for protecting human rights, thus taking another step towards joining the European Union by reaching the Acquis Communitaire.
Furthermore, today Turkey represents the crossroads for migratory flows toward Europe. Then, just like Italy, legal instruments and operating skills are needed to deal with the difficult circumstances detonated by the Syrian Crisis, especially in very sensitive areas, like the Governorate of Gaziantep, where the project was started in 2015.
Consequently, we involved target groups in two comparative studies of legislative practices, in order to encourage a correct understanding and a faster implementation of political reforms built on the European modus operandi in the field of refugees’ human rights.
“Mediterranean Bridge”, strives to rise itself from a relatively restricted context to export the results to a macro-level by the spread on national scale of a joint report containing the main reflections and guidelines.
We hope that the institutional partnership will promote better conditions for refugees, as well as the strengthening of Turkish institutions’ skills and the developing of strong links between Italian and Turkish societies. This links, supported by an high level of cooperation, will allow the achievement of the full mutual intelligibility and the openness to dialogue in the field of justice, freedom and security.