Turkey to be granted residence permit to Syrians with passports

ANKARA

REUTERS photo

Syrian citizens who took shelter in Turkey and who possess passports have been given residence permits valid for one year, Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin said in confirmation of earlier reports, while underlining that residence permits were not valid for border cities.

“Our ministry has special practices for Syrians who come to Turkey for shelter purposes,” Şahin told reporters.

The minister noted that these special practices include health and education services as well.

“The matter which was subject to news report is a previously arranged particularity. Those Syrian citizens who come from Syria and who hold passports have been given and are being given residence permits, accepted in our border cities,” Şahin said. “This is, in any case, a practice which is conducted within the framework of both our country’s law and international law,” Şahin said.

More than 120,000 Syrians have crossed into Turkey to flee deadly violence that has engulfed their home country for the last 20 months, according to official figures. Yet, the actual number is estimated to be much higher since these figures do not include the tens of thousands of Syrians who are unregistered and living in Turkish homes.