AKP deputy proposes Syrian children born in Turkey should be granted citizenship

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

The head of the Turkish Parliament’s Human Rights Committee has called for considering the option to give Turkish citizenship to Syrian children born in Turkey. 

Syrian children born in Turkey are stateless, which may lead to “a lost generation,” Ömer Serdar, committee head and a senior lawmaker from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), said on March 7.

“Analysis on the impact of giving citizenship to such children born in Turkey should be made, and a legislative arrangement should also be made depending on the outcome of the analysis,” Serdar added.

He said Turkey had so far spent more than $30 billion on the wellbeing of the Syrian population in the country.

On the other hand, aid given to Turkey by the U.N. for Syrian refugees was about $600 million, he added.

Turkey hosts more than 3.5 million Syrians as Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since 2011.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict, according to U.N. figures.