Turkish authorities raid Syrian houses in Istanbul
Istanbul – North-Press Agency – Samer Taha
Following the Turkish decision to deport all those who do not have a temporary protection card registered in the province, violations by Turkish authorities against Syrian refugees in Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey, continue.
Syrian refugees confirmed to North-Press that despite the Turkish government’s claims that they stopped the security campaign in the city until August 20 of this year, to give time to Syrians to adjust their situation and the violators to settle their papers, yet, neither the campaign stopped nor resolutions were implemented.
Turkish authorities continue their operations of inspecting and checking on the temporary protection cards (Kimlik), which left the situation of the refugees in Turkey more complicated, and increased the illegal abuses by the campaigners.
Syrian refugees told North-Press that during the last 48 hours, a security patrol in Taksim neighborhood of the European part of Istanbul raided a house inhabited by Syrian refugees and inquired about their papers and cards. When they found out they did not have them, they inspected the house, detained the refugees to be taken to a nearby police station in Taksim neighborhood.
Moreover, some of their relatives confirmed to North-Press that the Turkish police did not allow them to change their clothes, where they were taken from house directly, as when questioning about them, the police said that they were deported to the Asian part of Istanbul.
The two detainees youngmen are 25 and 30 years old who came to Istanbul about two years ago to work, where they worked in a Turkish cafe. They failed to get a temporary protection card from a second Turkish province, as they were waiting for the government resolutions that defined the mechanism of moving to another province, but they ran out of time.
Furthermore, witnesses confirmed that there were other Syrian refugees in the patrol vehicle that arrested the two youngmen mentioned above. These cases come as part of a large number of many others in Turkey, that include deportation operations of the refugees to Syria and other provinces outside Istanbul.
These operations raised resentment of Syrians in Istanbul and the rest of Turkish regions, in terms of violating the laws of the country by raiding houses and arresting people without official permissions to raid and inspect houses.
Earlier, the province of Istanbul had granted Syrians living in the province who had temporary protection cards issued by other povinces to adjust their situation by returning to their original place of residence by August 20.
While a large sector of Syrians in Istanbul fear from deportation to Syria, as the directorate of Bab Al-Hawa crossing border point estimated the number of Syrians deported from Turkish territory to about 4.380 people since the beginning of July.
There are about 548.000 Syrians living in Istanbul, forming 3.64% of the population, while the total number of the Syrians in Turkey is 3.561.070, according to the statistics of Ministry of Interior Affairs.
Wherease Turkish Interior Minister Suleiman Soylu claimed in a press statement on Sunday that Turkey did not deport any Syrian in temporary protection status and that the recent campaign in Istanbul “is concerned with combating illigal migration and there is no deportation of any legal resident.”
Soylu also claimed that the authorities did not take any action against the Syrians during the time granted to them. As for unregistered Syrians who reside in Istanbul, “they will be registered in shelter centers and then they will be sent to the cities they want to go to.”