Documentation and Recordkeeping Issues Affecting Refugees in Turkey: A Review

Abstract

Abstract This report examines the recordkeeping issues facing refugees, displaced persons, and asylum seekers who have either applied for asylum while residing in Turkey or transiting through. There is a high degree of interdependency between types of documents, particularly birth certificates, marriage certificates, and identity documents. The challenges faced by Syrian and non-Syrian refugees can be distinctive, suggesting a need for more targeted interventions. The report’s recommendations confirm Sakena Alalawi and Anne Gilliland’s findings and point to a pressing need for archive-to-archive collaboration to increase accessibility of records; to lobby those who make policy, adjudicate asylum cases and vet refugees for resettlement to consider alternate forms of documentation that might be presented by a records advocate working on a case; and to develop new forms of certification for relevant digitized documents.