150,000 Syrians granted Turkish citizenship: CHP

ANKARA

While revealing a report about the state of Syrian refugees in Turkey on the 10th anniversary of the Syrian civil war, a senior official from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has said Turkey granted citizenship to 150,000 Syrians, criticizing the government for not clarifying to whom and why the citizenship was granted.

The ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) wrongful policies have led to chaos in Turkey for both the Turkish citizens as well as millions of Syrian refugees, said Professor Fethi Açıkel, an Istanbul MP and deputy leader of the CHP.

Turkey is hosting around 5 million Syrians inside the country and looking after another 5 million Syrians on the Syrian lands, and this reveals that Turkish taxpayers are taking care of around 10 million Syrians, Açıkel added.

He also criticized the government for not orderly updating the figures of Syrians in Turkey, although 100,000 Syrians alone were born on Turkish soil in 2020.

In terms of human loss, as a result of the ongoing civil war, Turkey is the country with the highest military casualties after the Syrian Army in the past 10 years, Açıkel said, informing that the picture was no different when it comes to civilian human losses.

“Terrorism stemming from Syria has seriously affected our national security, and its effect has exceeded the border regions, causing many terrorist attacks in our cities, resulting in the death of hundreds of our citizens,” he maintained.

The AKP’s policies have turned Turkey into a buffer zone tasked to keep the Syrian refugees on its soil, Açıkel said, stating that the government’s strategy to use the refugees as a tool against the EU has also backfired.