Türkiye expects surge in Syrians’ return during summer months

ANKARA

Türkiye is anticipating a surge in the return of Syrians starting from June when schools are about to enter their three-month summer break, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya has said.

Tens of thousands of Syrian families currently residing in Türkiye have children enrolled in schools here, so they have to wait the closure of the academic year, Yerlikaya said on Dec. 30 in an interview with the private broadcaster NTV.

Turkish customs ramped up their capacity at the beginning of December, following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, in order to keep pace with the procedures for the returning migrants.

A similar increase in capacity could be expected during the summer months as well, the minister underscored.

Yerlikaya noted that there are more than 4 million foreigners in Türkiye who have legal residence status, with 2.9 million of them being Syrians.

Thirty percent of Syrians, approximately 80,000, are children born in Türkiye, the minister said, adding that these children are not granted Turkish citizenship.

“Instead, they hold temporary protection status, and once they cross the border back to Syria, their temporary protection status will be revoked,” he noted.

Yerlikaya further pointed out that the population records of Syrian children born in Türkiye are not in the possession of the Syrian regime, saying that Türkiye will be opening an office in Damascus to facilitate intensive coordination for acquiring such information.