The Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants was established in 1995 in Ankara as an independent, impartial and non-profit association to assist refugees and asylum seekers living in Turkey. By being the first local association established for conducting activities in the area of asylum, AISRI has been working in the field for 23 years. AISRI offers services to all asylum seeking and refugee groups without any discrimination based on language, religion, race, gender and political opinion.
With more than 1.600 staff members including social workers, field workers, psychologists, health educators, lawyers, interpreters, disability experts, mobile team assistants, family counsellors, youth workers and instructors, our Association has been providing psychosocial support to asylum seekers and has been assisting them in reaching their rights and services related to protection, education, health and social services.
ASAM Greece-Athens Representative Office opened in 2016, while a foreign representative office opened in Belgium-Brussels in January 2019. Apart from field offices, support centers operating in various areas, Women and Girls Safe Spaces and Migrant Health Training Centers, ASAM reaches asylum seekers and refugees living in provinces where its offices are not present through the Counselling Line, run together with the Mobile Counselling Teams and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
AISRI organizes meetings and conferences on an international and national level and conducts capacity building activities for institutions with the purpose of raising public awareness towards refugees and asylum seekers and strengthening the collaboration and communication between non-governmental organizations and public institutions operating in this field. Furthermore, AISRI has been representing the successful works of Turkey abroad (Brussels, Geneva etc.) conducted towards asylum seekers and migrants.