Some 5.2 mln foreigners in Türkiye: Deputy Minister

ANKARA

The total number of foreigners in Türkiye is 5.2 million, Deputy Interior Minister İsmail Çataklı has announced.

There are 3.8 million refugees in the country, including 3.5 million Syrians under temporary protection and 319,000 people under international protection, Çataklı said in a Twitter post.

A total of 1.3 million foreigners also live in Türkiye as a resident, he said, adding that the total number of foreigners is 5.2 million.

More than 1 million of these are primary, secondary, high school and university students, Çataklı also noted.

Nearly 1.3 million legal foreigners are living in Istanbul, the city with a population of 16 million, the Provincial Directorate of Migration Management said in July.

Minister Süleyman Soylu stated earlier that new foreign applications for residence permits will not be accepted in eight of Istanbul’s districts, which are Küçükçekmece, Başakşehir, Bağcılar, Avcılar, Bahçelievler, Sultangazi, Esenler and Zeytinburnu.

A total of 551,829 Syrian migrants reside in Istanbul, while the southeastern provinces of Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa host 466,00 and 384,000 Syrians, respectively.