Turkish Interior Minister Suleiman Soylu revealed the latest statistics on the number of Syrians who have obtained Turkish citizenship, and a large number of them are expected to participate in the elections to be held next May, expecting that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will win the presidential elections in the first round.
Soylu said in statements to TGRT Haber, on Saturday, that the number of those granted Turkish citizenship is 230,000, including 998 Syrians, of whom 130,914 are adults.
Soylu added that the Turkish state’s policy was to not grant citizenship to the Syrian Turkmen, but circumstances have changed, as 40 percent of the Turkmen who came from Syria were naturalized and became Turkish citizens.
He also indicated that more than 10,000 Turkish Uyghurs and 114,000 citizens were naturalized, and they are Turks from Ahiska, who were settling in Ukraine and Crimea.
On the problem of immigration, Soylu said that Ankara is facing the largest wave of migration in history, which puts it in a difficult test, as two million Afghans are waiting at the Iranian border in order to cross the country, in addition to that there are 3 million and 420 thousand Syrians inside.
He stated that there are 550,000 Syrians who have returned to their country so far, after purging the regions of northern Syria from terrorism.
Erdogan victory
Regarding the possibility of Erdogan winning the elections, the Turkish minister expected Erdogan to win the presidential elections in the first round, with a rate ranging between 51 and 51.5 percent.
He said that no one is running for the elections and says that he will lose in it, pointing out that according to his experience and political work, politics is a rational and scientific issue, which is what the Turks see in the Justice and Development Party.
It was reported that the Turkish Presidency Communications Department refuted allegations last Friday about the issuance of citizenship and identity cards to immigrants and refugees before the start of the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for May 14.
Some parties and media outlets claimed that the Turkish Immigration Presidency completed requests for citizenship for some immigrants “very quickly,” while “Turkish Immigration” confirms that it evaluates operations related to foreigners only in line with Law 6458 for Foreigners and International Protection, and it has no mission or authority to grant citizenship. allegedly Turkish.
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