Turkey to relocate Syrian refugees to camps on border

GAZİANTEP – Doğan News Agency

Photo: Demirören News Agency, İzmir, Aug. 1, 2018

Five temporary refugee centers in the southeastern provinces of Gaziantep, Adıyaman, and Mardin will be shut down and 34,180 refugees living in these centers will be relocated to camps on the border, authorities have announced. 

The move came after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said after the election, the government would “aim to make all Syrian lands safe, starting from areas near our border, and to facilitate the return home of all our guests,” during a rally prior to the June 24 snap elections.

“But to do this, we need to get through June 24 [election day] safely,” he said in Gaziantep on June 21.

Accordingly, on July 31, Turkey’s immigration office sent letters to the Nizip, İslahiye, and Karkamış refugee camps in Gaziantep, which accommodate 23,095 Syrians, the Adıyaman refugee camp which accommodates 8,627 Syrians, and Mardin’s Midyat refugee camp, which accommodates 2,458 Syrians, in which it said the relevant camps would be closed down.

A total of 34,180 Syrians will be placed in the refugee camps located in towns close to Turkey’s Syrian border: Hatay, Kilis, and Şanlıurfa’s Suruç and Ceylanpınar districts.

The relocation of the refugees is planned to take place in one month, while the relocation of the refugees in Gaziantep’s Nizip will reportedly take longer.