Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz: “Turkey has 3 million Syrians” 

In an interview on television vice president Yılmaz shared following information about the number of Syrian citizens in Turkey. He said, our citizens are rightly complaining about irregular migration. We are fighting irregular migration to the end and will continue to do so.

He went on to say, “Those who come to our country illegally and live here without registration are an issue. There are significant developments, particularly from the Ministry of Interior. The issue of Syrians is different; we refer to it as temporary protection for those living here due to conflicts. There are disproportionate and unbalanced statements being made. In the near future, the Minister of Interior will have a study done, and the number is around 3 million. Those who mention this often mistake what they see on the streets for Syrians. Returns to Syria are accelerating, with 700,000 already having returned. “

Yılmaz also shared the following: The Middle East has turned into a fire zone. It is important for us to ensure that structures are established in Syria while protecting everyone’s rights and legal statuses. There is also such a thing as regular migration. In the U.S., there is the green card system; when all economies reach a certain level of development, you sometimes can’t find people to work in certain fields. With a planned approach, our country also needs regular migration. The business world is complaining about not being able to find enough labor.”