Syrian Textile Workers Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case for Closer Cooperation between Turkey and the EU

Introduction 

Turkey has contributed significantly to humanitarian relief for more than 3.5 million civilians affected by the war in Syria. The protection and rights that Turkey has granted to Syrian refugees1 —including access to its labor market—have been widely acknowledged. The textile and garment industries provide jobs to almost one-third of Syrian workers in Turkey.2 While these sectors have opened opportunities for poverty reduction and self-reliance, employment conditions are often deemed to be precarious and exploitative. The outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has hit the garment industry in an unprecedented way, exposing and reinforcing preexisting vulnerabilities of informal workers and of refugees in particular. This has provided a special impetus to reassess policy measures for people under temporary protection accompanied by improved labor rights for domestic and foreign workers in Turkey’s informal economy. This policy brief provides insights about the working situation of Syrians in the garment industry to explain how vulnerabilities among informal workers intersect with cleavages based on ethnicity, age, gender, and legal status. COVID-19 has exacerbated economic hardships, particularly for the most vulnerable groups. It thereby exposes both the flaws of Turkey’s temporary protection regime as well as the real costs of a global industry that builds on lowcost and flexible production. Efforts to improve the situation of Syrians in Turkey must, therefore, combine humanitarian relief with labor protection in the informal economy. To achieve this, revitalization of political and economic cooperation between Turkey and the EU will be key.