Ankara – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Turkey takes this opportunity to respond to a recent media report regarding the actions of three IOM staff members. The assumptions made in the article in no way reflect our long-standing commitment to supporting the Government of Turkey on migration issues, nor are the opinions inferred in the article representative of those of IOM.
 

IOM has the highest standards of conduct applicable to its staff requiring that they uphold principles of impartiality, fairness, objectivity, and restraint. We are troubled therefore by anything which may indicate a breach of our standards and have launched an official internal investigation. IOM takes this issue extremely seriously and will take appropriate measures to address any violation of its standards of conduct.
 

IOM conveys its assurance to the people and Government of Turkey that it remains fully committed to successful collaboration at all levels to continue to build an effective migration management system. We will continue to foster our 25-year partnership with Turkey to provide essential humanitarian assistance and improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants. IOM’s programmes in Turkey have reached more than 2,000,000 beneficiaries in the last five years and this has only been possible due to the leadership and humanitarian spirit of the Government of Turkey. Anything which undermines this is of great concern to us.

For more information, please contact Lanna Walsh at IOM Turkey, Email: MediaIOMTurkey@iom.int