Suleyman Soylu, Turkish Interior Minister, announced on Saturday new measures affecting Syrians living in Turkey. Firstly, Ankara has banned all Syrians from visiting their relatives in Syria during the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which will take place in mid-July.
A similar ban had been applied earlier in the year for the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. Refugees can lose their protected status if they travel back to Syria. Secondly, as a sign of growing social discontent, Ankara has taken new measures to restrict the movement of Syrians within Turkey who hold residence permits.
The percentage of Syrians allowed to live in neighborhoods, or cities, will be reduced to 20 percent, with 1,200 districts to be closed from July 1. Turkey had been renewing residence permits for a six-month duration, but recently dropped that to three months.
Under the new rules, when Syrians apply for their next residence permit they will not be allowed to continue to live in neighborhoods, or cities, that are over 20% Syrian in population. They will be forced to choose between going home to Syria or moving to new locations within Turkey that have a lower concentration of Syrians. This would mean losing their home and job and losing Turkish friends or neighbors who may have provided emotional support.
Experts expect social tensions with Turkish citizens will increase with the new distribution scheme, as Syrians are forced to relocate to other areas in Turkey. Syrians will likely try to remain invisible in the new areas to avoid conflict with the Turkish population. Turkey is home to one of the world's largest refugee populations, with more than 3.7 million people from neighboring Syria having found refuge there.
For Syrian refugees, Turkey implements a temporary protection scheme, which grants a right of legal stay as well as some level of access to basic rights and services but must be periodically renewed. Over 3,735,000 registered Syrian refugees are present in Turkey, including around 51,000 living in seven camps, primarily located in the southeastern regions of the country.
The rest live in host communities, mainly in Istanbul, Gaziantep, Hatay, and Sanliurefa cities. There are 145,826 Turkish citizens and 107,468 Syrians registered in Kilis, which is followed by Hatay with 20.6% of the Syrian population. Under the new measures, taxi drivers are allowed to ask customers for their official documents when they travel to different cities. Experts have criticized the Turkish government for using civilians as immigration monitors.
Syrians are pawns in the upcoming election
Turkey goes to the polls in a general election in June 2023. The economy is in crisis, with the Turkish lira at a record low. Syrians living in Turkey have been singled out as the cause of all domestic ills in Turkey. Far-right politicians have capitalized on the social outrage with provocative anti-migrant rhetoric for political gains heading to the election.
Turks blame Syrians for stealing their jobs and increasing rental prices. Syrians have been known to accept low wages as they try to survive in a foreign country. Syrians are trying to maintain a low profile to avoid retaliation. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the opposition Republican People's Party, has pledged to return the Syrians within two years if he takes office, and other opposition parties have made similar promises.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AK party are left in the position of having to appease public sentiment against refugees to remain in office. Erdogan is trying to keep up with the anti-migrant sentiment that echoes across Turkey, while also delivering on the pact with the EU to keep refugees and migrants in Turkey, which cost the EU billions of Euros. Syrians are registered under the UN-designated temporary protection status in Turkey, and the government cannot force them out as long as they don't break any laws or are in violation of the terms of their status.
Erdogan has encouraged a voluntary return to Syria, and already about 500,000 Syrians have done so. For the past two years, Syrians have been targets of hostility in Turkey, which coincided with the economic crisis, which has deepened.
The various political parties picked up on the general theme to place blame on the Syrians in Turkey. Experts fear the hostility will increase as the election grows nearer.
Erdogan's plan for safe-zone resettlement
Erdogan announced last month that he intends to resettle one million Syrians in 'safe zones' near the Turkish border in northern Syria. His plan serves two purposes: he will clear the area of Kurds whom he views as terrorists while boosting his re-election campaign by delivering on promises to get rid of the Syrians in Turkey. Erdogan unveiled 59,000 homes built by Turkey in Idlib for Syrians returning home.
Idlib is the last remaining area in Syria occupied by terrorists. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham was formerly Jibhat al-Nusra, which was the Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, and controls Idlib and holds about three million civilians and families of terrorists as human shields. Erdogan has supported and protected the terrorists in Idlib and has erected dozens of military outposts to prevent Russian or Syrian attacks on the terrorists.
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