‘Syrians eligible to vote in 2023 polls to have no serious impact’

OVER 113,000 Syrians with Turkish citizenship out of 200,950 Syrians in Turkey will be eligible to cast their ballots in the 2023 presidential elections, according to a statement by the country’s migration authority, amid ongoing discussions about the fate of migrants.

The migration authority yesterday noted that some 113,654 Syrian migrants are eligible to vote in the upcoming elections, which will not have a major impact on the outcome.

Gökçe Ok, who is in charge of communications and cohesion at the Directorate-General of Migration Management, told Hürriyet daily that the Syrians are not concentrated in a single area or province, and live in different areas across the country.

Ok continued by saying that Turkey no longer registers migrants in 15 provinces, including Istanbul, İzmir, Ankara, Antalya, Gaziantep, Hatay and Şanlıurfa.

“We have completely closed 781 neighborhoods to foreigners for residency permits, as well as temporary protection and international protection procedures. We have also suspended the temporary protection records of individuals who do not live in their registered addresses,” Ok said.

Ok also clarified claims about Turkey making monthly payments to Syrians in the country. He noted that the funds do not come from the taxpayers’ money, but from funds provided by the United Nations under the scope of social cohesion assistance. This program provides a monthly payment of TL 155 ($9.7) to 1,800,000 Syrians through the Kızılay card, coordinated by the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay).

Ankara is planning to build 200,000 homes in northern Syria for a quarter of all refugees to resettle voluntarily, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said earlier this month.

Erdoğan stressed that migrants and refugees in Turkey will voluntarily return to their countries once peace is established.

On the other hand, several opposition parties regularly call for Syrian refugees to return to their home country.

Turkish officials in mid-April banned Syrian refugees from temporarily visiting Syria to see their families for the Eid al-Fitr holiday in early May, which marked the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

The migrants have been briefly visiting their families and relatives in areas liberated from terrorists during the holidays and returned back to Turkey. But this year, a debate emerged as Turkey deals with an influx of migrants from more conflict zones, including Afghanistan, Ukraine and other countries.

It’s been more than 10 years since the first group of Syrian refugees, consisting of 250 people, entered Turkey, starting their new lives in the country after fleeing the war and persecution of the Bashar Assad regime. Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Turkey has backed moderate opposition groups against the Assad regime and opened its doors to those who had to flee the country to save their lives.

Now, Turkey hosts more Syrian migrants than any other country in the world. The country also leads humanitarian aid efforts for Syrians in Turkey and oppositioncontrolled areas of northern Syria, while making large investments for Syrians in Turkey in social cohesion policies to help them integrate into society smoothly.

Most Syrians who fled the civil war and escaped to Turkey are happy in the country and do not want to return home, a recent poll of Syrian refugees in Turkey revealed.