Netherlands: Turks working to cut Turkish immigration

This plan is optimistic, but they would have to convince those Turkish youth that they're not just trying to "hoard all the money" for themselves.

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Less new Turks should come to Dordrecht, says the Turkish association Tuana from Dordrecht. The association wants to discourage youth in Turkey from emigrating, but offering them more opportunities for a future in their own land.

Mehmet Safranti of Tuana explains: "From study it's been shown that youth in the Turkish village Kayapinar are less inclined to study, because 'they will go to the Netherlands'. We want to change the mentality of that group. Many youth want to move to Europe for their whole lives. Dordrecht is for them the most familiar place in the Netherlands. They come here with expectations and think that the 'money faucet' is always open. When they realize that this isn't so they get frustrated. We recognize many problems caused by youth coming to the Netherlands without an education."

Language problems, unemployment, and culture differences are the biggest obstacles for Turks who arrive in the Netherlands without an education. Dordrecht has close connections with Kayapinar and to the Netherlands and was a popular destination for earlier immigrants. Youth look here for friends and family and find support by each other.

Tuana wants to cut the Turkish immigration by 80% within five years by stimulating youth to study in their own land and helping them with finding a job. To realize that they need a multi-functional building that would offer an internet-hall, library, archive, class space and workshops.

According to Safranti few youth from Turkey realize what waits for them if they come to the Netherlands. "Many Turkish youth complain about the lack of a future in Kayapinar. That's why they want to leave. Where they go to, they hardly realize."

"If we can help them to an education and a job, they can consciously make a choice. Than they'll see that when they have an education life in Turkey is not so bad. If they still come to Europe, at least they'll have an education and have more opportunities here."

Turks in Dordrecht reacted very positively to Tuana's plans. Many of them donated money to the project.

Source: AD.nl (Dutch)