The Foreign Service Journal, April 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2016 23 MatthewR. (Matt) Johnson has been refugee coordinator for the U.S. Mission in Turkey since September 2014. He previously worked on refugee issues at State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees andMigration as a programofficer covering the Balkans and the Caucasus. He joined the Foreign Service in 2002 and has served in Bogota, Sarajevo andMadrid, as well as on a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamyan, Afghanistan. L eaving the familiar and comfortable confines of Madrid and Western Europe behind me, I arrived in Turkey in mid-September 2014 as the first refugee coordinator sent there by the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. I landed in the eve- ning, checked in (partially) at the consulate in Adana the next day and immediately set off on a five-day whirlwind trip to Istanbul, Gaziantep and Antakya (Antioch) in support of a visit by PRM's principal deputy assistant secretary. Arriving back in Adana, I thought I would have a chance to breathe and do some of the mundane things we take for granted: unpack, buy groceries, familiarize myself with my new home. Instead, the so-called Islamic State group (ISIS, or ISIL) began its siege of Kobane, in northern Syria, and as I tried to organize myself—setting up my own computerized operational space in my nearly vacant apartment—my computer, iPad and phone were all buzzing with emails and calls fromWashington. I worked through most of the first few weekends to provide infor- mation to decision-makers. Autumn 2014—Into the Crisis Tens of thousands of refugees fled the violence over one week- end to Turkish villages like Suruç, just across the Syrian border. Camps and other shelters were erected, while humanitarian agencies began providing assistance: jerry cans to carry and save water, food, hygiene kits, setting up sanitation facilities, vaccina- tions, medicine and treatment for those who had been injured by landmines. My job was to keep Washington informed and help determine how the United States could help, so I was talking with U.N. agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), Turkish government officials—and to refugees themselves—to gain an understanding of the events on the ground and the needs of the incoming refugee population. After a week, I hopped into a car to visit Suruç. Halfway there, I received a phone call from diplomatic security canceling the trip—ISIL had beheaded a journalist and humanitarian worker, and coalition air strikes were underway in Syria. We headed back to the security of the consulate. From Consulate Adana I monitor and evaluate the use of U.S. funding to support refugees, advocate for humanitarian prin- ciples with the Turkish government, prepare for mass displace- ments and assist in the response, visit refugees and NGOs to learn of the needs so we can use our funding appropriately, and provide political reporting so that policymakers in Washington are aware of ground truth in areas like Kobane and can make decisions on how best to address this complex situation. Recently this has meant flying to Ankara to work with U.N. agencies and the Turkish government to learn how they plan to implement new regulations that would provide more medium- On the Ground in Turkey These notes from the diary of an FSO refugee coordinator in Turkey convey the realities of the humanitarian crisis spreading from the Middle East. BY MATTHEW R . JOHNSON FOCUS ON HUMANITARIAN DIPLOMACY