More than 300,000 ‘stateless’ Syrian babies born in Turkey: Refugee subcommittee

ANKARA - Bülent Sarıoğlu

Some 311,000 babies of Syrian origin have been born in Turkey under the stateless status, according to the Turkish Parliament’s Refugee Subcommittee that operates under the Human Rights Committee.

The subcommittee’s president Atay Uslu said the situation is a “humanitarian plight.”

“The fact that these children are stateless is a humanitarian plight. I think they should be granted citizenship immediately,” Uslu said.

On March 7, the head of the Turkish Parliament’s Human Rights Committee Ömer Serdar also pushed for considering the option of giving Turkish citizenship to Syrian children born in Turkey.

Syrian children born in Turkey are stateless, which may lead to “a lost generation,” said Serdar, who is also a senior lawmaker from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Meanwhile, Erkan Doğanay, head of the response department of Turkey’s National Disaster Management Agency (AFAD), said 293 out of the 4,514 Syrian children who are under care are unaccompanied, 410 have lost their mother and 3,911 have lost their father.

General Directorate of Civil Registration and Nationality Deputy Manager Hüseyin Engin Sarıibrahim said 55,583 Syrians, including 25,500 children, have been granted Turkish citizenship so far.

Turkey currently hosts approximately 3.5 million Syrians under temporary protection, Directorate General of Migration Management Deputy General Director Salih Bıçak said.

A report released in January by the Turkish Parliament’s Refugee Subcommittee showed that Turkey currently hosts approximately 4.3 million refugees in total.