Association for Social Development and Aid Mobilization was originally founded under the name of “Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants” in 1995 in Ankara as an independent, impartial and non-profit association.
ASAM has over two thousand full-time employees and 55 offices in 30 provinces across Türkiye. The Association operates in these offices without any discrimination based on language, religion, gender, race, or political opinion.
Having opened a foreign representative office in Athens, Greece in 2016, when the irregular migration was at its peak, and then in Brussels, Belgium, known as the “capital of Europe”, in 2019, ASAM has carried its nearly 30 years of domestic experience to the international sphere. The Association will soon launch its third foreign representative office in Lviv, Ukraine.
Right after the earthquakes that occurred on 6 February 2023, ASAM, together with over 800 staff members, who rushed to the region from all across Türkiye, engaged in search and rescue efforts as well as humanitarian aid operations in Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep, Adıyaman, and Şanlıurfa. ASAM, which has started to implement more than 20 projects aiming to mitigate the devastating effects of the earthquakes in the region with its accumulated experience, continues to coordinate its operations from its compounds established in 4 provinces (Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Adıyaman, and Malatya).
ASAM established compounds in Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Adıyaman, and Malatya in order to sustain its operations in the earthquake-stricken region without interruption and in a swift and effective manner. It ensured coordination in the field and the delivery of the humanitarian relief items to the regions from these points. Running its operations without leaving the quake-hit region with the help of container areas designated for its staff, the Association, with its hundreds of expert staff members, continues its kit distribution, needs assessment, PSS, health counselling and child protection activities in the field.
In the course of the mass migration movement in Edirne and neighboring regions in February 2020, ASAM included the establishment of a Disaster and Emergency Response Unit within the Association among its institutional priorities. ASAM Canine Search and Rescue Team formed within the Unit reached the affected region immediately after the earthquakes, the epicenters of which were in Kahramanmaraş, and rescued 30 persons from the rubble. The Team, one of the very few with canine search and rescue capability in Türkiye, was honored with the “State Medal and Order of Supreme Sacrifice of the Republic of Türkiye” by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in recognition of their successful efforts.
In 2020, ASAM launched Migrant TV, which produces content in 7 languages (Turkish, English, Arabic, Farsi, French, Somali, and Ukrainian) to enable the access of displaced persons living in Türkiye to reliable information without having to face the language barrier. Broadcasting on YouTube, Migrant TV produces content on issues such as the registration process in Türkiye, rights and obligations, irregular migration, access to education and health services, work permits and access to the labor market, and social, cultural and urban life in Türkiye.
ASAM established the ASAM Academy on Migration in 2019 with the aim of conveying the know-how attained through practice in the field of migration, an issue that gains significance each passing day, to theory. With the motivation to contribute to academic studies on migration, ASAM Academy on Migration maintains its activities through journals, seminar programs, a migration library, research scholarships, panels, and conferences. ASAM Academy on Migration continues to share its experience with academia, local authorities, international organizations and representatives of the private sector within scope of the guide “Sharing the future: Opportunities for Social Harmonization in Türkiye” developed in collaboration with Princeton University.
Our guest was Meltem Hamit, the Program Manager for Combating Migrant Smuggling in the Migration Management Department of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Turkey Office.
In this episode of Migration Talks, our guest is Burcuhan Şener, the International Cooperation Coordinator at Marmara Municipalities Union and Director of Migration Policies Center.
In this episode of Migration Talks, our guest is Associate Professor Dr. Saime Özçürümez from Bilkent University.
At SGDD Migration Academy, the discussion on ‘Migration, Human Rights, and the Use of Social Media’ took place with Ece Basay, Director of Public Policy Programs at Facebook Turkey.
In this episode of Migration Talks, our guest is Professor Dr. İbrahim Sirkeci from the University of Edinburgh.
In this episode of Migration Talks, our guest is Dr. Kadir Onur Unutulmaz, Assistant Professor at Ankara Social Sciences University.
In this episode of Migration Talks, our guest is Professor Dr. Murat Erdoğan, Director of the Center for Migration and Integration Studies at Turkish-German University.
In this episode of Migration Talks, our guest is Professor Filiz Garip, a Sociology, Public, and International Affairs Professor at Princeton University.
In this episode of Migration Talks, our guest is Dr. Seda Yurtcanlı Duymaz, Assistant Professor at Istanbul University.
In this episode of Migration Talks, our guest is Kristen Biehl from Sabancı University.
On the 6th anniversary of the enactment of the Regulation on Temporary Protection, Dr. Ayşe Dicle Ergin, Faculty Member at Bilkent University Faculty of Law, was a live broadcast guest alongside Attorney Ayşegül Yalçın Eriş, Deputy General Coordinator of SGDD-ASAM.
