Environment minister calls on more illegal workers to come to Turkey

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

İdris Güllüce suggested that Turkey could follow an 'open door policy against poverty,' in contrast with European countries. DHA photo

The environment minister has made a singular call for more illegal workers on Feb. 5, saying that Turkey could follow an “open door policy against poverty,” in contrast with European countries in the past. 

“No orphan or homeless person should remain as such in this country. People from other countries shall enter illegally,” İdris Güllüce said, stressing the government’s “hard work” to reach the goals set for the centenary of the Republic in 2023. 

“There were times when people would go illegally to Germany from Turkey. They would be caught and sent back here. We should be such a country where people come to work illegally … There are some such people here, but this is not enough,” he said.

There are more than 600,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey, with numbers soaring, coming to big cities, such as Istanbul and Ankara to find work and make a living. Turkey also hosts thousands of illegal workers from African, Caucasian and Central Asian countries.

In the same speech, Güllüce also touched on his contacts with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, saying he had once come across Erdoğan in a very tired state at 2 a.m. for the signing of some papers.

“He was hardly keeping his eyelids open. The body is not resisting anymore. We have such a working team. [You should] be fuel for this team,” he said.

Güllüce took over his post from Erdoğan Bayraktar, whose son was briefly detained as part of the graft probes launched mid-December, following the Dec. 25 Cabinet reshuffle.