Syrian refugees living in Turkey’s largest city of Istanbul have been given a four-week deadline to return to the province where they were initially registered with authorities, the Reuters news agency reported on Monday.
A statement released by the Istanbul Governor’s Office on Monday also warned that those Syrian refugees who refused to return within a month to the provinces, in which they were initially registered, would face forced removal to those regions.
Syrian refugees that have a temporary protection permit must stay in the province where they are registered, and obtain a special permit to travel to other provinces in Turkey.
“The Syrians who have temporary protection permits in provinces other than Istanbul have until August 20 to return to those provinces, and will be returned if they stay after that date,” the statement read.
It added: “The Syrians who do not have temporary protection permits will be sent to provinces specified by the Interior Ministry.”
Although most Syrian refugees dwell in Turkey’s southern provinces near the Syrian border, Istanbul has the largest Syrian population of any province in the country.
A total of 1 million Syrians live in the city, Istanbul’s new mayor said, while Interior Ministry data shows only 500,000 as being registered.
Critics say the biggest reasons for the anger against the nearly four million Syrian refugees currently living in Turkey are the country’s recession-hit economy and high levels of unemployment.
Many Turks are resentful of the Syrians because they see them as offering cheap labor and taking jobs from Turks, and using services that include health and education.
The Istanbul Governor’s statement that orders Syrians to go back to the provinces in which they are registered, came after two clashes in the city earlier this year when large groups of Turkish people attacked Syrian shops and properties.
There have also been reports recently that some of the Syrians in Istanbul are being deported without their consent back to areas of northern Syria controlled by Ankara and Turkey-backed rebels.
There was no comment from the Turkish government on the news reports of the arbitrary deportations.
The situation in Syria is far from being stable as thirty-two people died and dozens more were wounded due to airstrikes in opposition-held Idlib province on Monday.
Since the end of April, hundreds of people were killed in the frequent assaults on civilian areas by Syrian and Russian forces.
While pursuing a policy that aims to send Syrian refugees back to their homeland, the Turkish government has also hinted at a new military operation in the country.
“If the safe zone is not established and threats toward our country continue, we will launch the operation in the east of the Euphrates,” Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s Foreign Minister, told Turkish media on Monday.
Turkey is a signatory to agreements that bind it to a non-refoulment principle, an international customary law rule that bans countries from deporting people to a place where they are at risk of facing persecution or threat to life.
The post Syrian refugees in Istanbul given deadline to return to registered provinces appeared first on IPA NEWS.
from IPA NEWS https://ipa.news/2019/07/23/syrian-refugees-in-istanbul-given-deadline-to-return-to-registered-provinces/
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