A plan by the Turkish Interior Ministry to limit the number of foreigners living in neighborhoods across Turkey has angered rights activists, who lambast the move as a sign of brewing anti-immigrant sentiment as Turkey heads to elections.

Suleyman Soylu, Turkey’s iron-fisted interior minister, told journalists last week that 16 provinces have been closed to new foreign residents, including districts in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir. “If the number of foreigners in a neighborhood exceeds 25%, we will send them to other neighborhoods,” he said, adding that implementation had already started on a voluntary basis. Though Soylu used the generic term for “foreigner,” he was clearly referring to Syrians under temporary protection and other asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa.

Turkey set a geographic limitation on its ratification of the 1951 UN Convention on the Status of Refugees that means that only those fleeing due to "events occurring in Europe” can be given refugee status. But despite the lack of official recognition, the local and international media refer to the Afghans, Syrians, Iraqis and others from Asia and Africa as “refugees.” Turkey hosts one of the largest refugee communities in the world, with refugees accounting for 5% of its population of around 83 million. The largest group is four million Syrians, 193,000 of whom have been granted Turkish citizenship.

Bureaucratic sources say what's known as the “Dilution Plan” aims to prevent ghettos and community violence but many immigration activists fear that it will inflame anti-immigration rhetoric as Turkey heads for elections next year. Refugee associations also worry that the plan encourages local politicians to try to charge more for water, electricity or business licenses from foreigners to force Syrians or Afghans to leave their cities.