Turkey provides 1.5 million ID cards for Syrian refugees

Fevzi Kızılkoyun ANKARA

DHA Photo

Turkey has provided some 1.5 million Syrian refugees with biometric IDs, according to data provided by the Interior Ministry and the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD).

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş had earlier said that some 1.2 million Syrians, fleeing the civil war in their homeland, have been registered.

The identity registrations include fingerprints and personal data, which will also be used in the provision of aid, job offers, education, and social opportunities to displaced people.

The database will also be used to mark those who are involved in crime.

AFAD is currently building a 35,000-capacity camp in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa’s Suruç district and another 15,000-capacity facility in Mardin’s Derik district. These camps, in addition to the existing ones, will be operative by the end of this month.

The majority of Syrian refugees in Turkey today live outside the camps, mainly in large cities across the country.

The Turkish government is also set to launch social programs, themed “living together,” based on the belief that the majority of the refugees will not return.

The number of school-aged Syrian children in Turkey is now more than 350,000, according to official figures. UNICEF and Turkish officials have been coordinating efforts to train volunteer Syrian teachers at refugee camps, providing instruction to 3,500 teachers so far.