AFP Forum

TURKEY - MIGRANTS - ECONOMY - ENVIROMENT - POVERTY - LABOUR - WASTE - ENVIRONMENT

TURKEY - MIGRANTS - ECONOMY - ENVIROMENT - POVERTY - LABOUR - WASTE - ENVIRONMENT
A collector works at a dumping ground on November 18, 2021, in Istanbul. Considered the poorest of Turkey's poor, Afghans have joined Kurds, the Laz, Roma and other ethnic minorities and undocumented migrants in doing work others simply refuse. For less than $10 a day, they roam the streets of Istanbul, a megapolis of nearly 16 million people straining under the weight of a Turkish currency crisis and a flood of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and other conflict-riven states. Diving headfirst into dumpsters, they dig up plastic bottles, glass and other waste that they then sort and sell in bulk -- a self-organised, unregulated business that keeps the city clean. But as public sentiment against migrants and other foreigners in Turkey turns, the state-appointed prefecture of Istanbul has declared this work bad for "the environment and public health".
Bulent KILIC / AFP