‘Syrian refugees could become Turkish citizens’

Syrian refugees living in Turkey could eventually be granted Turkish citizenship, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signalled, a plan that has sparked controversy at home.

“I want to announce some good news,” media quoted Mr Erdogan as saying late Saturday at a dinner to break the Ramzan fast in Kilis province, on the Syrian border. “We are going to help our Syrian friends in offering them the chance, if they want it, to acquire Turkish nationality.” The interior ministry will shortly announce how the citizenship procedure would work, Mr Erdogan said.

He did not specify whether all of the 2.7 million Syrians that Turkey is hosting would be able to apply, and gave no details on eligibility criteria or how long the process would take.

“We regard you as our brothers and sisters — you are not far from your homeland, but only from your homes and your land,” Mr Erdogan told a group of Syrian refugees in Kilis. “Turkey is also your homeland.”

Ankara has refused to grant refugee status to Syrians who have fled the devastating war across the border since 2011, referring to them as “guests”.

Only a select group have been granted work permits and residency. The country’s open-door policy to Syrian refugees was initially a source of pride for many Turks. But more and more have come to resent the new arrivals, seeing them as a drain on state resources and rivals for scarce jobs.

Mr Erdogan also said that Syrian President Bashar Assad was a “more advanced terrorist” than ISIS, despite the deadly attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport that Turkish officials blame on ISIS. He said the Syrian leader was responsible for the deaths of some 6,00,000 of his own citizens and was the root cause of the war in Syria.

“He is a more advanced terrorist than a terrorist from the PYD or the YPG,” Mr Erdogan said. “He is a more advanced terrorist than Daesh.”