Refugees receive orientation in Turkey for possible settlement in Finland

[Aptrgangr]

Boats in the harbour in front of Helsinki's Market Square, paper factories, Finnish girls in parks with bikini tops, winter landscapes.
A group of Somalis attentively watch an orientation video with narration in the Somali language at an office of the UNHCR in the Turkish capital Ankara. The Somalis are under consideration for settlement in Finland as part of the country's annual refugee quota.
There are some giggles when the pictures on the screen depict Finnish sauna culture.
Others stare in silence. Somali attitudes toward nudity are not quite as liberated as those that prevail in Finland.
"Very good", says an 18-year-old Somali girl after seeing the video.
"I want to go to Finland - to live there, study, eat, and sleep."
The girl's family sent her out of the country after her father, a lawyer and human rights activist, was killed for political reasons.
An older woman also likes what she sees. "Finland is beautiful and green. All children get to go to school there", she says.
Local officials say that the UNHCR office in Ankara rarely sees as much bustle as it has this week, when a Finnish delegation came to interview potential quota refugees.
The Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Labour only recently managed to iron out their disagreements on filling the quota for 750 refugees set for this year, and the interviews were delayed until a very late stage.
A team comprising the two ministries and the Security Police (SUPO) arrived in Ankara on Monday.
"We will choose as many as we can in Turkey, just over 100 people. Most of them have met the criteria set by Finland, but there are question marks about a few people", says Leena-Maija Qvist of the Ministry of Labour. She predicts that they will fall short of the quota by about 100 people.
Most of the refugees presented to Finland by the UNHCR are Iranians. The rest are Somalis, Afghanis, and Palestinians.
There are also a few Congolese, a Sri Lankan, and one Chinese.
The bureaucratic difficulties that led to the delay in filling the Finnish refugee quota caused consternation at the UNHCR Ankara office earlier this year. Already in the summer the office had drawn up a list of refugees that had been selected with Finland in mind.
In the early autumn news came that a planned visit by the Finnish delegation was cancelled, because the two Finnish ministries were not able to agree on what groups to take into the country.
"I can understand that there can be political debates like this sometimes, but it is difficult to explain the delays to the refugees", says UNHCR official Eduardo Yrezabal.
He notes that refugees have to wait in Turkey for about two years on average. The living conditions are poor. There are no refugee camps in Turkey. Instead, the state places them in small and medium-sized towns.
The refugees originally set aside for Finland ended up going to the United States and Canada, even though the UNHCR felt that Finland would have been more appropriate; Some of the refugees had friends or relatives in Finland, while others would have needed competent Nordic rehabilitation to overcome their traumatic experiences.
The Finnish Ministry of the Interior had also noted that as Turkey has started membership talks with the EU, it should deal with refugees itself.
Yrezabal points out that because of its geographical location, Turkey attracts more than its fair share of refugees from both Asia and Africa. Also, he notes that Turkey's EU process is in its very early stages.
At the Ankara office one official says that a couple of refugees from Iran left after seeing the Finland video, and did not stay for their interviews.
The importance of a willingness to adapt is underscored to the refugees. Greater efforts have been made to prepare new arrivals from Asia and Africa for confronting Western culture.
"We have grown used to seeing all kinds of people in Turkey, so getting used to Finland would probably not be difficult", says a 19-year-old Somali. He is currently living with his family in the Turkish town of Konya, where passers-by often stop and look at the dark-skinned boy.
Because of a tight schedule, the orientation was limited to the video presentation and a "Welcome to Finland" leaflet prepared by the Ministry of Labour.
The leaflet tells basic facts about Finland. It also notes that it is common for Finns to live alone, and that Finnish police can be trusted.
The paper also mentions that Finns can sometimes take a suspicious attitude toward immigrants.
"However, not all reticence and silence is caused by suspicion, as Finns do not always talk very much even to each other", the newcomers are told.

Helsingin Sanomat - International Edition - Foreign

[Arthur Gordon Pym]

If only those who are "willing to integrate" come to Europe, then the danger for Europe is even bigger...

[Tennyson]

Could the trend that "Finnish girls in parks with bikini tops" have increasingly been raped by dark-skinned men of African descent be a coincidence?

Honestly, instead of advertising the beauty of Finnish girls to lustful Africans they should be taught what the word "No" means.