Naturalized people in Turkey.. What you should know about participating in the 2023 elections – Türkiye Today

The controversy over the position and influence of naturalized refugees (Syrians and others) increased during the Turkish general presidential and legislative elections on May 4, against the backdrop of political tensions between the opposition – which has been leading a fierce campaign against refugees and naturalized persons, and demands that they be prevented from voting in the elections, before adopting them. Recently, electoral political alignments, talking about the rights and duties of naturalized people and humane dealing with refugees – and the government of the ruling Justice and Development Party – which has taken the initiative to extend a helping hand to refugees since 2011, and closely monitors the dovish, temporary, discourse of the opposition, to win over naturalized people – in conjunction with a state of anxiety among Naturalized citizens and refugees themselves, due to the humility of international arrangements to improve their situation, despite the exacerbation of challenges.

At the forefront of the file of millions of foreign immigrants (from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Pakistan, Palestine, Myanmar, Georgia, Moldova, and citizens from: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Egypt and Russia, who entered Turkey with residence permits) is the Turkish political scene, with economic conditions, increasing unemployment and high inflation, in conjunction with difficult living conditions. Directing part of the public expenditures for the benefit of asylum seekers, with the aim of providing them with public services, amid a discrepancy between the opposition and the ruling party regarding the file.

opposition exaggerations

Since the beginning of 2018, the Turkish opposition claims that the government has taken the initiative to naturalize more than a million Syrian refugees (including more than 50,000 Turkmen) to benefit from their votes in the elections in favor of the ruling Justice and Development Party, before the candidate for the presidency of the Turkish Republic, the head of the Republican People’s Party, Kamal said Kılıçdaroğlu, earlier: “I have data related to voters that are not available to the Supreme Council for Elections, including naturalized Syrians, their places of residence and other information that proves this true.. We know every voter, including those who will go to the ballot box for the first time.. We know their homes and addresses, born in Syria and born in Afghanistan, so we can deduce who got citizenship.”

The Turkish Ministry of Interior threatened to sue the head of the Republican People’s Party, because of these allegations, and demanded that he “disclose public opinion about how he obtained information that the Supreme Elections Council does not have,” while the head of the ultra-nationalist Victory Party, Amit Ozdag, claimed that “the number of Syrians is increasing.” Over 8 million.. The influx of refugees to Turkey is the project of Western imperialist countries to start a civil war in Turkey and fragment the country.

While the ultra-nationalist candidate for the presidency, Sinan Ogan (who dissented from the Nationalist Movement Party), said: “They give refugees the power to determine our future,” referring to citizens of other nationalities (about 17,000 Afghans, 1,000 Georgians, and 6,000 Uighurs Turks) obtaining citizenship. !

official estimates

Turkish Interior Minister Suleiman Soylu mocked the opposition’s claims, saying: “Those who are supposed to be in a mental institution say that the number of Syrians who obtained citizenship has reached 900,000 Syrians. What is this number? It is an attempt to create internal confusion. Those who have the right to vote compared to the total number of Turkish voters, which is 64 million, does not exceed 0.178%.” of shapes in the outcome of any election.

The number of Syrians who obtained Turkish citizenship, according to the General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs at the beginning of last year, reached 221,671 Syrians, of whom 125,563 are over the age of 60, out of 3,528,835 Syrians registered under the temporary protection system in Turkey.

The Turkish Minister of Interior told NTV: “The number of Syrians who obtained Turkish citizenship and are entitled to vote in the Turkish elections, until the end of 2022, reached 201 thousand, including 88 thousand children, and the participation rate of naturalized Syrians in the last elections – 2018/2019 – was Low, as it did not exceed 35% of the naturalized people.