3.7 million Syrians live in Turkey. Anti-refugee sentiment is heated. In August, people, their shops and homes were attacked. Now the government is starting a resettlement project.
After racist violence – Turkey resettles Syrians
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu wants to ban foreigners from entering regions where Syrians make up 25 percent of the population. Photo: Ahmet Bolat/Anadolu/AP/dpa
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After the racist attacks in Ankara, the Turkish government started a project there to resettle Syrians.
After the racist attacks in Ankara, the Turkish government started a project there to resettle Syrians.
The pro-government news agency Demirören Haber Ajansi (DHA) reported that people from regions where many Syrian citizens lived were to move to other parts of the country as part of the program. In August, people of Syrian origin, their shops and homes were attacked there. Hundreds of people marched through the district at the time, threw stones at apartments where they suspected Syrians were staying and looted shops.
Participation in the project is voluntary and, according to the DHA, is still in the pilot phase, but is planned to be extended to the country. So far, 4514 people have been resettled. More than 300 abandoned buildings have already been demolished.
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said that in regions where Syrians make up 25 percent of the population, the influx of further foreigners will no longer be allowed. Exceptions would be made for sick people, separated families and students.
The mood against Syrians and other foreigners in the country has heated up significantly in recent months. According to the Ministry of the Interior, 3.7 million refugees from Syria live in Turkey, plus hundreds of thousands of other migrants from Afghanistan, for example.