Press release
Syrian National Coalition – Syria
Department of Media and Communications
August 2, 2019
Recently, it has been reported in the international press and on social media that our Syrian citizens under temporary protection in Turkey are being deported.
We in the Syrian National Coalition and the Syrian Interim Government are closely following developments taking place in Turkey. As it is known, in accordance with international law, Turkey provides “temporary protection” to Syrians, who were forced to flee from violence in our country.
According to the official data of Turkish authorities, as of 18 July 2019, 3,634,378 of our citizens are being hosted in a peaceful manner under the “temporary protection” status in Turkey.
First and foremost, we would like to state that millions of Syrians living in Turkey are most grateful for the kind hospitality extended to them by the Turkish state and Turkish nation. According to the information we have received from relevant authorities concerning recent developments, certain allegations published in the international press and on social media do not reflect the truth.
As stated by the Turkish authorities to us at the highest level, in Turkey there is no operation targeting Syrians with the aim of deporting them.
We observe that the Turkish Government has launched efforts to ensure public order under its migration strategy and is implementing a monitoring mechanism for unregistered illegal migrants and for Syrians who are registered in another city, but currently living in Istanbul.
The officials we met have underlined that, in accordance with its humanitarian and balanced policy, the Turkish Government has no intention of deporting our citizens who fled from the war and took refuge in Turkey.
We have been informed that Turkey strictly complies with the principle of “non-refoulement”, as required by the UN Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.
Turkey has a deep-rooted tradition of welcoming migrants and has embraced the oppressed throughout history. While almost the entire world turned a blind eye to the humanitarian crisis in Syria, Turkey has shouldered responsibility and opened its doors to Syrians fleeing from the war. Friendly country Turkey has hosted millions of Syrians since 2011 and we are witnessing that Turkey’s policy towards Syrians remains unchanged.
We respectfully announce to the public that, as we did so in the past, we will continue to follow closely all the processes concerning Syrians in Turkey, and till we return back to our country, we will withstand those attempting to undermine the peaceful and friendly co-existence under Turkey’s roof.
