TURKEY-SYRIAN REFUGEE/APPLICATION Mobile app helps Syrian refugees adjust to life in Turkey

Record ID: 274850

  • Title: TURKEY-SYRIAN REFUGEE/APPLICATION Mobile app helps Syrian refugees adjust to life in Turkey
  • Date: 1st February 2015
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GHERBTNA USER, QUTIBAH ABO SALEH, SAYING: "I work in a media company in Istanbul. The most interesting and smart thing that got my attention is that through this application, if you do research about a company in Turkey that you are interested in, then the company gets notifications, so here, they didn't make it easy only for people to find the right c
  • Embargoed: 16th February 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVACBJSGK0ZIKFEW2JUEL49LJQKR
  • Story Text: A mobile app (application software) that helps exiled Syrians adjust to life in Turkey is becoming a big hit among those living in exile in the neighbouring country.
    The app is called Gherbtna - an Arabic word that translates as exile, loneliness and the feeling of being foreign. The Gherbtna app and accompanying website contains several sections, such as job advertisements, Turkish regulations, and the news in Turkey.
    App designer Mojahid Akil said Gherbtna is helping many Syrians who have fled their home country's multi-pronged civil war between President Bashar al-Assad and his opponents.
    According to Akil, "We created this application around a year and three months ago to help Syrians who are living in Turkey and who don't know how to approach other people in Turkey, or they have some difficulties in getting residencies and opening bank accounts. I mean people who have a lack of information, so for this we have created this application and website a year and three months ago."
    A Syrian refugee in Turkey himself, Akil said both the app and the website are becoming extremely popular.
    "We have ten thousand application downloads, we have between five thousand and eight thousand visitors daily, which means around one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand visitors monthly. People get the application to guide them in how to open a bank account, how to get a residency and how to get a passport, as well as many more services we provide them with on our website."
    Currently available on Android handsets, Akil said the app will soon be available on a variety of other smartphone users.
    "We started this project with two people. After eight months we started developing the website and the application so it became easier to use, also we have added some more easy sections to use. We have application for Androids and we are going to launch our application for the iPhone and Windows Phone," he said.
    Gherbtna has been well received by Syrians in Turkey, like Yathreb Hajj Mohammed and Qutibah Abu Saleh.
    According to the former, "For me as a user my main interest is the job sections. There are student users who look for universities, what are the documents they need to register, how they can get accepted to the university. So the website has everything that anyone can use to find what they want."
    Saleh agreed, adding: "I work in a media company in Istanbul. The most interesting and smart thing that got my attention is that through this application, if you do research about a company in Turkey that you are interested in, then the company gets notifications, so here, they didn't make it easy only for people to find the right companies as the rest of the internet websites. Also through Gherbitna, a company can find who searched it, thus a bigger benefit will be gained by the company who publishes their advertisements in Gherbitna."
    Turkey hosts 1.7 million Syrian refugees, of whom 230,000 are living in camps, albeit with access to facilities such as schools, supermarkets and even cinemas.
    The majority of refugees are living in cities close to Syria. Ankara has maintained what it calls an "open border" policy to refugees fleeing the conflict between Assad's forces and rebels in Syria.
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