How Syria's earliest refugees are about to become Turkish citizens
Turkey's earliest Syrian refugees will soon complete their five-year waiting period for Turkish citizenship, and political players are calculating those Syrians' significant eventual power.
The first group of Syrian refugees in Turkey will be able to seek citizenship — and the right to vote and run for office — beginning in April.
Five years ago, the first 252 refugees arrived. Turkey initially agreed to accept a maximum of 100,000, and many people at that time thought there would never be that many refugees. But the flow gained momentum and by the end of 2012, 150,000 Syrians had crossed into Turkey.
As time passed, millions of Syrians sought refuge in Turkey as well as Jordan and Lebanon. On Feb. 5, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the latest numbers: "From Syria alone we received 2.7 million, and from Iraq, 170,000 refugees,” he said.
Those first 252 arrivals will complete the five years of continuous residency required to seek Turkish citizenship on April 29. Every day thereafter, that number will grow. By 2019, when three elections are scheduled, the refugees who arrived in 2014 will be eligible. A Syrian human rights organization estimated there were 1.9 million Syrian refugees in Turkey at that time.
