Sumer took the opportunity, with the Turkish side agreeing to open the border crossings for Syrians to spend the Eid al-Fitr holiday in Syria, to cross into Syria to check on her house in Aleppo. At the border crossing, she was surprised by the employee asking her to refer to Directorate General for Migration in Gaziantep where she lives with her husband.
“I was insistent on crossing,” explained Sumer, 30, a teacher at a Syrian kindergarten in Gaziantep, “but the Turkish official told me that I could cross, but I will not be able to return to Turkey for five years.” This made her reconsider her decision and forced her to head to the Directorate for Migration in Gaziantep to discover that she must pay a fine of 1800 Turkish Lira before she can visit Syria because she was working without a work permit.
Sumer is one of the tens of thousands of Syrians who work in Syrian schools, organizations and companies in Turkey without a work permit. Recently, these institutions have been subject to searches by Turkish inspectors from the Ministry of Finance to ensure that employees have work permits. In recent days, the inspectors did checks on Syrian Relief Network organization, Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), Syrian Expatriates Medical Association (SEMA), Masrrat and other organizations operating in Gaziantep.
Sumer said she was surprised, greatly disappointed and felt some fear when she received the news at the Directorate for Migration. She has traveled from Gaziantep to Hatay province to arrive at the Turkish side of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing only to be turned away. Her excitement at the possibility of entering Syria and seeing her home was dashed and turned to anger at the kindergarten administration for not providing her with a work permit. Sumer explained that she would have to pay the 1800 Turkish Lira fine as the kindergarten refuses to pay the fine.
Several months ago, the Turkish security closed down the kindergarten she worked in at the request of the Turkish Ministry of Finance, Sumer explained. At the time, security personnel asked if the teachers had work permits and when they said no, the personnel asked them to sign a paper pledging to not work again without work permits.
According to Sumer, she and her colleagues did not know the contents of the paper at the time, although the kindergarten has an interpreter, one of the children of the kindergarten owner. She later understood that the paper included a fine for around 510 US Dollars for each teacher who was working without a work permit. Sumer explained that the kindergarten administration reopened the kindergarten again but refused to provide the employees with work permits or to pay the fines levied against the teachers.
“After paying the fine, I and many like me will go to holiday with a broken heart, “she added jokingly.
On Friday, the period for Syrian refugees from Turkey to cross back into Syria to spend Eid with their families ended. Syrians cross through Cilvegözü crossing facing Bab al-Hawa and Öncüpınar crossing facing Bab al-Salam. According to Anadolu Agency, around 190,000 people crossed to the Syrian side.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Turkey hosts more than 2.7 million registered Syrians living mostly in urban areas, and around 260,000 people living in 23 refugee camps in Hatay, Gaziantep, Kilise and Sanliurfa provinces.
