'Turkey Rounded up 153 Thousand Illegal Migrants, Deported 43 Thousand in 2019'

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Amid growing concerns of deportation among Syrian refugees, Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu made remarks and gave figures on the Syrians in the country and particularly İstanbul in a live broadcast on NTV last night (July 23).

He said that there are 1,069 million registered migrants in İstanbul, with 547 thousand of them being Syrians under temporary protection and 522 thousand people from other nations having a residence permit in the city.

The "problem" is with unregistered migrants, who are not included in these numbers, and with Syrians who are registered in different cities but reside in İstanbul, Soylu said.

The Governorship of İstanbul earlier in the week announced that Syrians who are registered in different cities will have to leave İstanbul until August 20. It said that identity control will be performed throughout the city, especially at transportation centers. Refugees mostly prefer to live in İstanbul because of job opportunities. 

6,122 people were rounded up so far, with 2,690 of them being Afghans, Soylu noted.

"There are unregistered ones. We tell them, 'We didn't give residence permit to you' and bring them to camps. We don't deport anyone, we can't," the minister underpinned. However, refugee advocates claim there have been incidents that Syrians being forced to sign "documents of consent" for their repatriation.

CLICK - 'Sending Syrians Back a Crime Against Humanity'

"There are ones who voluntarily want to go back [to Syria]. We have introduced policies to ensure that they go to safe areas," Soylu noted.

Saying that some of the cities are now closed to new registrations of Syrians, including İstanbul, Soylu remarked, "He came from Africa, sells a watch for 10 liras on the streets. We won't permit that."

Photo: AA

Soylu also announced figures on "illegal migration," saying that 175 thousand migrants were rounded up in 2007 and 268 thousand in 2008.

"We have rounded up 163 thousand illegal migrants in 2019. This number will exceed 300 thousand by the end of the year," he said.

Soylu added that the number of deported migrants was 56 thousand in the last year and 43 thousand in 2019 so far.

"We have also seven thousand migrants whose tickets are taken from them. So, what are we doing to prevent illegal migration across our borders? We are stepping up measures. We are improving a sharp system," the minister added.

Soylu said that the total number of Syrians in the country is 3.634 million. (EMK/VK)