[ ASAM ]

About Us

Through its widespread field offices and mobile teams, SGDD-ASAM not only conducts activities aimed at individuals seeking asylum, but also supports research conducted in the field of migration.

[ +]
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
[ +]
STAFF
[ ]
OFFICES
[ ]
INTERNATIOANL OFFICE

Due to its geographical position, Turkey has been faced with migration movements throughout history, including mass influx. With the massive migration influx from Syria after the year 2011, according to official figures, there are 3.641.370 million Syrians present in Turkey as of 2020. The number of studies conducted on migration, one of the most crucial phenomenon that currently affects millions of people on a global scale, mainly in Turkey, is increasing day-by-day and many actors are operating actively in the field in terms of implementation and generation of knowledge.

In this context, ASAM, which is an independent, impartial and non-profit non-governmental organization operating actively in the field of migration, has been conducting activities since 1995 in more than 30 provinces to assist asylum seekers and refugees in accessing rights and services and to support their psychosocial wellbeing and social cohesion. Also beginning to operate in the international sphere by opening representative offices in Athens and Brussels, ASAM aims to support asylum seekers and refugees living outside of Turkey. Studies are also carried out by ASAM in coordination with the European Union and United Nations organizations, as well as with governmental institutions, municipalities and non-governmental organizations, with which cooperation protocols are held, with the purpose of finding solutions to the problems faced by asylum seekers and refugees, assisting them in meeting their basic needs, and supporting their access to fundamental rights and services.

In addition to its ongoing works related to persons seeking asylum individually, ASAM, with its widespread field offices and outreach teams, commences its works in the field in a short span of time, conducts needs assessments and meets the humanitarian needs together with its partners and relevant public institutions for the purpose of delivering aids expeditiously to persons, who had to come Turkey in masses and sought refuge, when an emergency humanitarian response is required. Having provided support to thousands of refugees, including those who came from Kosovo in 1999, those who came from Iraq in 2003 and afterwards, Syrians who came from Tel Abyad and Ayn El Arab regions of Syria and took refuge in Turkey in a mass influx situation during the period starting from 2011 until 2014, and urban refugees who are living outside the camps, by implementing emergency response programmes in relation to the basic needs, ASAM also observed the mobility emerging from irregular migration activities in the border regions during the European Migrant Crisis in 2015 and provided support by delivering humanitarian aid items in collaboration with relevant institutions.

Based on ASAM’s quarter century of experience in the field and the need to convey practice into theory in the area of migration, which keeps gaining significance, ASAM founded the Academy on Migration on 22 December 2019, the day of ASAM’s anniversary of establishment. The Academy, founded in Ankara, aims to contribute to the generation of scientific knowledge in respect of migration, dissemination of information, and unification and transformation of practical and theoretical information by utilizing the knowledge and experience acquired by ASAM in the field over the years. ASAM Academy on Migration will also be conducting numerous activities with the aim of forming a dialogue platform between all stakeholders working in the area of migration, contributing to academic Turkish and world literature, improving the sharing of academic information, and supporting qualitative scientific research in the field.

With the motivation to contribute to academic studies on migration and bring together migration-related discussions in Turkey with relevant and current discussions and research continuing on a global scale, ASAM Academy on Migration conducts different activities since 2020, including journals, seminar programs, migration library, research scholarships, panels, and conferences.

Get subscribed!

Subscribe to our weekly email newsletter and be the first to read news from ASAM.