Turkey's migrant workers tell woes of displaced

OMERLERKOY, Turkey, Nov 1 (Reuters) In late August, Serhan Korkmaz and his family rode 500 km from their adopted home of Mersin to the central Anatolian plain on the back of a truck, carrying the tarpaulins that would shelter them during the onion harvest.

Settlements of plastic tents supported by wooden poles sprout up across the Turkish countryside during the harvest months, when an estimated 6 million workers travel long distances to work on commercial farms.

Many of Turkey's cheap seasonal workers -- like Korkmaz -- started working as hired hands after they were displaced from southeastern villages during violence between Kurdish guerrillas and the army.

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) took up arms to fight for an independent homeland in 1984, turning many villages into battlegrounds. Human Rights Watch estimates 1 million people were displaced by 1999, while the government puts the figure at 378,000.

Today, the makeshift lives of migrant workers, marked by want and precarious living conditions, highlight the government's failure to deal with its displaced populations.

''They (farmers) don't consider us people, they consider us animals and because we're Kurdish we can't defend our rights,'' said Korkmaz, sheltering under plastic sacking from the intense Anatolian sun.

Under Turkish law, labour intermediaries or contractors are responsible for negotiating salaries and conditions between workers and farmers.

''But there are intermediaries who are unlicensed,'' said Osman Zaim, project director of the International Labour Organisation in the capital Ankara. This leaves workers vulnerable to exploitation.

Turkey's displaced populations are a cause for concern for the European Union, which Turkey seeks to join. Brussels is expected to criticise Ankara's reform drive when it issues its latest progress report on November 8.

More Reuters MS DB0905