NGOs ask for extension as Syrian refugee deadline ends
▶ Istanbul’s decision to expel asylum seekers came amid heightened community tension
Tens of thousands of Syrians living in Istanbul faced expulsion from the city yesterday as a deadline for migrants registered elsewhere in Turkey to leave expired.
With no immediate sign of action from authorities, NGOs demanded an extension to allow an orderly and humane transfer of refugees to other cities.
“There’s no information so far from the authorities about what will happen,” said Abdullah Resul Demir, deputy chairman of the International Refugee Rights Association. “I hope they will grant an extension because the time period is not effective.”
In addition to the half million Syrians registered in Turkey’s largest city, a similar number are thought to live there without proper registration.
Last month, the Istanbul governor ordered those registered in other provinces to leave voluntarily by yesterday, or face removal.
Syrians not registered elsewhere in Turkey face being sent to refugee camps.
Since the announcement, some Syrians said they had been rounded up by police in Istanbul and deported to Syria.
Turkish authorities have denied these claims which, if true, would contravene international law that says asylum seekers should not be returned to a country where they face danger or persecution.
According to anecdotal reports, Syrians have been forced across the border into Idlib province, where the Syrian military launched an offensive against the last rebel stronghold in late April.
About 3.6 million Syrians have fled to Turkey since the conflict’s outbreak in 2011.
They have “temporary protection” status under Turkish law that requires them to register in a city allocated by the Turkish authorities.
They are not allowed to travel elsewhere in the country without specific permission.
Despite this, many have moved to Istanbul to join family members or because of better work prospects. “There are Syrians in Istanbul who have lived here for several years despite being registered elsewhere,” Mr Demir said.
“They have homes, jobs, their children are in schools. How can they suddenly move to another city? They don’t have enough money.
“Before, they thought everything was OK, but now they’re scared to leave their homes because even if they have permission to be in Istanbul, they think they will still be sent somewhere else.”
Istanbul governor Ali Yerlikaya’s decision to remove unregistered Syrians came after a period of increased tension between locals and refugees in which Syrian shops were attacked by mobs on several occasions.
Concern over community relations led to a nationwide decision to reduce the use of Arabic on shop and restaurant signs last month.
A poll in June by market research company Ipsos Mori found that 59 per cent of Turkish respondents agreed that Turkey should close its borders to refugees, while 69 per cent thought most foreigners claiming refuge were not true refugees.
Since Mr Yerlikaya’s announcement, nearly 12,500 migrants have been transferred from Istanbul to the provinces where they are registered, his office said this month.
Another 2,600 unregistered migrants were sent to centres run by the interior ministry.
Metin Corabatir, president of the Research Centre on Asylum and Migration in Ankara, said the decision had created a climate of “fear and anxiety” among refugees in Istanbul.
“After the statement, the police treated them quite harshly in some cases and even people who had the correct ID but didn’t have it on them were detained and sent to other cities or camps,” he said.
“The implementation of this decision is very difficult and problematic – it would be hard to force hundreds of thousands of people from Istanbul.
“It’s difficult for these people to go back to other cities if the factors that pushed them to Istanbul in the first place, such as a lack of jobs or being subjected to attacks by nationalistic or anti-migrant people, still exist.
“There will be accommodation problems and there will be a new burden on these cities and fresh tension.”
He said the Directorate of Migration Management had recently established mobile registration points across the city to assist people in travelling to the provinces where they are registered, as well as to allocate alternative locations to unregistered refugees.
The directorate did not respond to a request for comment.