30,000 Syrian refugees eligible to vote in Turkish election
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Some 30,000 Syrians have received Turkish citizenship and are eligible to vote in Turkey’s upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections, the prime minister announced.
“They have the right to vote, but I do not know how many of them will use that right,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told journalists in Izmir, Hurriyet Daily News reported.
Turkey has the largest number of refugees worldwide, hosting 3.9 million people who have fled their homes in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran, seeking safety.
About 94 percent of Syrian refugees in the country live outside of camps, according to the EU.
About 55,000 Syrians, mostly the highly educated, have been given citizenship through a government program instituted in 2016.
Refugees are a hot election topic with people worried about the costs of caring for so many, lower wages because of cheap refugee labour, and inter-communal tensions.
The government has come under fire from opposition leaders for its pro-refugee stance.
“After I am elected, my first action will be to fix our relations with Syria and to send the four million Syrian brothers and sisters back to their country,” IYI presidential candidate Meral Aksener said in a rally on Tuesday.
She blamed the ruling AK Party’s “interventions” in Syria for contributing to the refugee crisis and said the $36 billion spent on refugees is needed for industrial development.
CHP’s presidential candidate Muharrem Ince, who pundits predict will face the incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a runoff, slammed the government’s decision to allow Syrian refugees to go home for the Eid holiday and then return to Turkey.
“If you are able to go there, stay 10 days and return, they you could stay there permanently. Why are you coming back?” he said, adding that Turkey is not a soup kitchen but is “full of jobless people.”
Turkish citizens will go to the polls on Sunday, voting in a historical election that will usher in constitutional amendments that put power in the hands of the president.
“They have the right to vote, but I do not know how many of them will use that right,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told journalists in Izmir, Hurriyet Daily News reported.
Turkey has the largest number of refugees worldwide, hosting 3.9 million people who have fled their homes in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran, seeking safety.
About 94 percent of Syrian refugees in the country live outside of camps, according to the EU.
About 55,000 Syrians, mostly the highly educated, have been given citizenship through a government program instituted in 2016.
Refugees are a hot election topic with people worried about the costs of caring for so many, lower wages because of cheap refugee labour, and inter-communal tensions.
The government has come under fire from opposition leaders for its pro-refugee stance.
“After I am elected, my first action will be to fix our relations with Syria and to send the four million Syrian brothers and sisters back to their country,” IYI presidential candidate Meral Aksener said in a rally on Tuesday.
She blamed the ruling AK Party’s “interventions” in Syria for contributing to the refugee crisis and said the $36 billion spent on refugees is needed for industrial development.
CHP’s presidential candidate Muharrem Ince, who pundits predict will face the incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a runoff, slammed the government’s decision to allow Syrian refugees to go home for the Eid holiday and then return to Turkey.
“If you are able to go there, stay 10 days and return, they you could stay there permanently. Why are you coming back?” he said, adding that Turkey is not a soup kitchen but is “full of jobless people.”
Turkish citizens will go to the polls on Sunday, voting in a historical election that will usher in constitutional amendments that put power in the hands of the president.