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Women victims reveal 'slavery' system in Turkish town
Women victims reveal 'slavery' system in Turkish town
Women who have been made to work as domestic maids for the rich in their childhood years have spoken of this “slavery” system, which still continues in a neighborhood of the southern province of Hatay’s Kırıkhan district. Click for Zeynep Bilgehan's report. (Hürriyet photo: Selçuk ŞAMİLOĞLU)
“When I was 12 years old, I was sent as a maid to the house of the agha [wealthy landlord or owner of major real estate]. Aghas used to come with taxis and pick up the girls from their families [at those times]. I could not live my childhood or my teenage years. I have left school. I used to cry all the time. And this place is still the same,” 38-year-old Gökçen Fışkın told daily Hürriyet, referring to the Barbaros neighborhood of the district, which is struggling with poverty.
Many poor families in this neighborhood are sending their daughters, even as young as primary school age, to work as a maids in rich people’s houses for a fee of 650–3,000 Turkish Liras a month ($115–$531).
Some 95 percent of the Barbaros neighborhood residents are Roma people. There are about 2-5 million Roma living in Turkey, according to a report prepared by minority rights groups, and Hatay is one of the provinces with the highest density Roma population. About 100,000 Roma live in five neighborhoods of the Kırıkhan district, one of which is Barbaros.
“In the neighborhood [of Barbaros], there are intermediary people called ‘shoppers.’ They take the girls and send them to districts in Hatay or other provinces. For the last 10 years, there is a single ‘intermediary’ who earns 400 liras per child. I know that this intermediary has taken five to six girls to [the southeastern province of] Gaziantep in one time. It is thanks to this that this person has renewed their car,” Veysel Toplar, president of the Hatay Roma, Abdal, and Dom Association and Social Assistance and Solidarity Foundation, told daily Hürriyet.
“The families, on the other hand, receive from 650-3,000 liras depending on the girl’s age and skills. The girls either babysit or do the cleaning in the houses they go,” Toplar said, adding that this system has been continuing for the last 20 years amid their efforts to stop it.
“The family wants to give away their daughter once seeing the neighbor has renewed their car after giving away their daughter. They have the mindset of: Why should my child receive an education, as she will not be a teacher or prosecutor anyway? I have seven sisters and all of them, except the eldest, have served as maids,” he said.
“The girls are also exposed to every kind of violence and abuse. We stand up against this system. We also react against families who are happy about sending their daughters away,” Toplar added.
Toplar’s wife Selma is among those who have served as maids during their childhood. Selma Toplar, 40, told daily Hürriyet her family had been in financial trouble when her father died.
“Along with my sister, I was given away as a ‘servant’ to the rich families. I was eight years old and in second grade. I went to Istanbul. My sister was 10 years old and she went to a farm in the Reyhanlı district. I stayed with the family in Istanbul for 10 years. I was lucky that they did not treat me badly,” Selma said.
Zero Discrimination Association President Elmas Arus said poverty in the Barbaros neighborhood had been prevalent due to discrimination toward the Roma.
“People here are very poor, prejudice and discrimination against the Roma in the region is very high. They either do jobs that other factions of society do not do or create new working areas to make a living. And children become the biggest source of income for the family,” Arus said.
“To eliminate this situation that poverty is causing, the state needs to come up with permanent policies. Or, this situation, which has turned into a tradition, does not disappear with just bans. The situation is unique to Hatay because there is a need in the region. The number of rich people is high,” Arus said, referring to this system as “slavery.”
A report prepared jointly by the Minority Rights Group International (MRG) and the Zero Discrimination Association says in Turkey, poverty and social exclusion are widespread among Roma people.
The majority of Roma people are subjected to discrimination, especially regarding education, employment and housing, the report says.
The right to education is as much of a problem for adults as it is for children among Roma and similar social groups, the report says, adding that Roma literacy rates are lower than that of the general population due to lower school completion rates among Roma children.
The low literacy rates among Roma adults also has an impact on their possession of the basic skills required in the labor market, according to the report.
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