The research article titled “Effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic Process on Migrants in Turkey”, written by Prof.Hamza ATEŞ, a faculty member of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the Faculty of Political Sciences of our university, together with Dr. Aslı COŞKUN, was published in Konuralp Medical Journal. In this work, using qualitative research methods and techniques, the effects of the pandemic process on immigrants in Turkey were investigated.
The data obtained as a result of the research revealed that foreigners who came to Turkey through migration were in a more disadvantaged position than domestic people in terms of a healthy and quality lifestyle and access to basic public services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, the difficulties of being an immigrant, combined with the difficult process experienced with the COVID-19 pandemic, have created a kind of multiple disadvantage situation for immigrants. This situation created a serious handicap in reducing inequalities, which is one of the UN Sustainable Development goals.
Other interesting research findings obtained in the article are listed as follows:
- Immigrants in Turkey were able to access information on issues such as the pandemic, public facilities provided to them and health, not through public institutions and organizations, but rather through social media tools, due to their language disadvantage and the isolation environment they live in.
- Contrary to the claims made from time to time in the public that there is positive discrimination against immigrants in public services, it has been observed that immigrants have more problems, especially in accessing many basic public services.
- While some of the immigrants who applied to hospital units during the COVID-19 Pandemic experienced problems in access to the health system and medicines, a significant part of immigrant children did not have the opportunity to access distance education.
- The fact that the COVID-19 Pandemic brought economic life to a halt negatively affected immigrants as much as it did the domestic people, and perhaps more so. A significant portion of immigrants had difficulty accessing adequate food, shelter, hygiene and energy requirements necessary for good health and well-being during the pandemic.