ISTANBUL, Syria (North Press) – Syrian refugees in Turkey live in a state of anticipation for the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in May. They fear being used as a key campaign issue by the government and the opposition, both of whom have settled on the need to deport them to Syria.
“Both the Turkish government and the opposition discuss the Syrian refugees’ issue in Turkey and the need to find a solution for it, but each has its own viewpoint in this regard,” Ghazwan Qoronfol, a Syrian lawyer living in Turkey, told north Press.
Qoronfol noted that both the Turkish government and the opposition, “do not want the issue of refugees to continue at the current size and in the current manner.”
On April 20, the Jarablus border crossing with Turkey, northern Syria, announced that the number of Syrians arriving in Syria from the earthquake-affected Turkish areas had reached 21,087.
The crossing administration added, in a post on its official page, that the total number of arrivals since mid-February, includes 18,052 people who hold temporary protection card (Kimlik) and 3,035 who hold dual nationality (Syrian-Turkish citizenship).
Those returnees fear that they will not be allowed to enter Turkey again. This increases the concern about the fate of their relatives inside Turkey.
Dozens of families who entered Syria from Turkey in the aftermath of the earthquake were prevented from returning through the Bab al-Salameh crossing this week.
The duration of the leave for quake-victims returning to Syria is a minimum of three months and a maximum of six months. Syrian activists in Turkey fear that they will not be allowed to return to Turkey again.
Syrians as campaign issue
Journalist Jihan al-Khalaf, who resides in Turkey, said in an interview with North Press that “many things will change on the various political, economic and social levels for the Syrian refugees.”
However, after the elections, “the Syrians hope that the Turkish society’s view regarding them will change, and there will be a great integration of Syrians into the production process, and that a Turkish language course will be offered to them, enabling them to work in the market according to the applicable regulations.”
The Syrian refugees have turned into a key campaign issue in Turkey, as the Syrians await an unknown fate, in light of their loss of hope for a political solution to the Syrian crisis.
Al-Khalaf indicated that the situation of Syrians in either case “will not be good, as there are multiple plans to return the largest number of Syrians to their country.”
Refugees concerns
Journalist Muhammad al-Satouf warned Syrian refugees during the coming period not to interfere in any discussions about the Turkish elections.
Al-Satouf pointed out that “some Turkish media outlets fueled and greatly increased racism, and have entrenched many false narratives about the Syrian refugees, which are supposed to be corrected and clarified.”
In recent years, the killings of Syrians, whether in Turkey or on the Syria-Turkish border, have increased in a clear indication of the extent of racism and hate speech by the Turks against the Syrians.
Syrians, who are trying to enter Turkish territory, are attacked by the Turkish border guards and exposed to live bullets. The Monitoring and Documentation Department of North Press has documented the killing of 18 people and the wounding of 46, including a child and three women, since the beginning of this year.