Turkey criticizes US program to relocate Afghan workers

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Migrants in the Turkish border region of Van (photo taken on July 27)

Photo: Anadolu Agency / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

For years, the US and its international partners worked together with local forces during their military operation in Afghanistan.

After the withdrawal of the NATO armed forces, the aid workers stayed behind - and had to expect fatal retribution from the resurgent Taliban.

With a program, Washington now wants to enable former Afghan employees to relocate to the United States.

However, the prerequisites for this are met with criticism from Turkey.

The US program, for example, stipulates that those affected must first leave Afghanistan on their own and have to stay in a third country for twelve months or more.

During this time your applications should be processed.

In the past, many Afghans left their country for the west and found accommodation in Pakistan, Iran or Turkey, for example, before traveling on to Europe.

In Turkey there are now fears of a new "great migration crisis".

The resettlement program will increase the suffering of Afghans on the migration routes, said the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

Turkey "does not have the capacity to cope with a new migration crisis on behalf of a third country." The US decision is irresponsible.

Already millions of refugees from Syria in Turkey

Around 3.6 million refugees from the civil war country Syria are already living in Turkey, and it is estimated that there are up to half a million Afghans and migrants from other countries.

According to observers on the border with the neighboring country, several hundred migrants come to Turkey every day via Iran, mostly Afghans, but also people from Pakistan and Iran.

According to the human rights lawyer Mahmut Kacan, there is still no new trend towards massive migration from Afghanistan to Turkey. For a few years now, Afghans have been coming to the country more and more in the summer, said Kacan, who campaigns for the rights of migrants in the border province of Van, the dpa news agency. The situation should be monitored in the autumn after the withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan. For many, Turkey is just a transit country, said Kacan. Your real goal is Europe.

The migration route through Turkey is dangerous.

Often people are brought by smugglers from the border province of Van to big cities like Istanbul.

Serious accidents occur time and again.

Turkish security forces discovered 300 migrants cooped up in a truck in Van on Tuesday.

Most of them came from Afghanistan according to the information.

In July last year, at least 60 migrants drowned when their boat sank in Lake Van.

fek / dpa / Reuters