The Strategist

Turkey is getting tired of refugees



08/22/2019 - 10:47



Turkish authorities set to solve one of the most sensitive problems for the country, the excess of refugees from Syria. Considering that most of the Syrians found refuge in Istanbul, the Ministry of Internal Affairs intends to evict all refugees registered in other provinces from the city by October 30. Meanwhile, newspapers report cases of forced expulsion of Syrians to their homeland.



VOA news
VOA news
Several media outlets, including AP and BBC, reported cases of forced deportation of Syrian refugees from Turkey to their homeland. So, the AP told a story of the Syrian Mustafa, who was detained by police while working at a shoe factory and expelled from the country.

The Syrian theme was one of the first to be raised by the new mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, after taking office.

“I have already said that opening doors for 3.5 million refugees is simultaneously wrong. In Istanbul, we are talking about a million refugees, almost 8% of the population. We are changing demographics. This causes social tension,” said the mayor of Istanbul on July 29 in an interview with Deutsche Welle, Turkey.

The politician also supported the decision to evict refugees registered in other provinces, mentioning his participation in attempts to draw the authorities’ attention to this problem. About 550 thousand Syrian refugees are registered officially in Istanbul; therefore, about half a million people are now subject to eviction.

Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, speaking on Haberturk on Tuesday evening, said that the deadline for Syrian refugees registered in other provinces to leave Istanbul has been extended until October 30. It was previously assumed that this process would be completed on August 20, but this date turned out to be unrealistic.

Sociological polls also show that the topic of the return of refugees to Syria is one of the key for Turkish voters. So, according to a study conducted by PIAR in July, 82.3% of respondents agree with the statement: "All Syrians should be returned to their homeland."

source: bbc.com, apnews.com