Despite talk of returns, Turkey quietly works to integrate Syrian refugees

Ahmed Sahlabji repairs a broken fuse in a private school where he works as a janitor in Gaziantep, Turkey, March 6, 2019. Picture taken March 6, 2019. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Updated 29 March 2019
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Despite talk of returns, Turkey quietly works to integrate Syrian refugees

  • Almost half of Turkey’s 22 government-run camps for Syrians have closed, and although some residents have returned to Syria, most have stayed
  • Despite political rhetoric to the contrary, and with the support of international donors, Turkey is quietly paving the way to integrate many of its nearly 4 million Syrians

GAZIANTEP, Turkey: When his rebel fighter son was killed and life in Syria became impossible for Jamal Sahlabji, he and his remaining family packed up and joined hundreds of thousands fleeing to neighboring countries.
Sahlabji settled in Gaziantep, a Turkish town close to the Syrian border that became a haven for opposition figures, rebels and refugees escaping fighting and bombardment.
Refugee camps were set up but Sahlabji, who arrived in 2012, steered clear of the tents. Now almost half of Turkey’s 22 government-run camps for Syrians have closed, and although some residents have returned to Syria, most have stayed and moved to permanent housing across the country.
Despite political rhetoric to the contrary, and with the support of international donors, Turkey is quietly paving the way to integrate many of its nearly 4 million Syrians — by far the biggest group of refugees who have spilled over Syria’s borders during the eight-year-old civil war.
Absorbing even a portion of such numbers into its society and workforce however poses a significant challenge, especially as the economy stutters and unemployment rises.
Sahlabji now works as a doorman in a private high school, where his son Ahmed is a janitor. His daughter is studying for university where she hopes to take architecture, while another son and his family has been granted Turkish citizenship.
Seven years after they fled the Syrian city of Aleppo, the Sahlabjis are not planning to return home, as originally envisioned, but are instead putting down new roots.
“We’re hopeful we can create a future for our children,” Ahmed said. “We’ve put them in schools and we’re spending on them so that maybe they study and go to university and make something of themselves, God willing.”
“Here, the government works for the people,” the 31-year-old added. “Back home, it’s the opposite.”
Most Syrians in Turkey are still registered as refugees. A few are unregistered, and a small proportion — at least 55,000 — have been granted Turkish citizenship.
But behind the numbers, a broader shift is taking place in the support provided to Syrians, most of whom arrived with the few possessions they could carry across the border in an influx that European leaders feared would fuel a migration crisis.
The European Union, which has given billions of euros to help Turkey host refugees in return for stopping them crossing into Greece, is now concentrating support on longer-term projects such as preparing Syrians to compete in the job market and funding language courses and vocational training.
“There is now a slight shift from providing basic humanitarian assistance to more long-term assistance which also leads to better socio-economic integration of refugees, of people who want to stay in Turkey,” EU Ambassador Christian Berger told Reuters.
Some refugees are being gradually taken off a smart-card system, an emergency measure to deliver cash for rent or groceries, and recent projects focus more on helping Syrians mix into Turkish society.
“The idea is to drastically reduce the number who depend on humanitarian assistance,” Berger said. “This cannot go on forever.”

’We’re not going back’
There is public resentment over the influx in some quarters. The government, and President Tayyip Erdogan’s, stance in the run-up to municipal elections this weekend has been to play up the prospects of the Syrians’ imminent return to their homeland.
However a senior Turkish government official told Reuters that, while Ankara would like to see the refugees return to Syria once stability was restored, it realistically accepted that some would want to stay in Turkey.
“There will be people who have established businesses, got married. We will not force them to return,” the official said. “The current efforts are conducted on the assumption that they will live here comfortably and for an extended period of time.”
Because most Syrians initially thought they would eventually return home, they at first placed their Arabic-speaking children in temporary education centers and afternoon schools, where classes were held mostly held in Arabic.
In 2016 the ministry of education and European Union started to phase out those temporary education centers, moving Syrian children into Turkey’s mainstream schools and offering intensive Turkish classes for non-speakers to help them settle in.
Supported by EU funds, Turkey is building hospitals in Hatay and Kilis, two southern provinces on the border with Syria, as well as 55 schools and community and training centers.
In its second 3-billion-euro package for Turkey, agreed last year, the European Union has allocated 500 million euros toward education projects and school infrastructure for the refugees.
Alongside those schemes, the Ankara government has made it easier for Syrians to get work permits — helping bring them into the formal labor market in Turkey, home to 82 million people.
In 2017 Turkey reduced the fees for work permits by two thirds, although by November last year, only 32,000 out of 3.6 million registered Syrian refugees had acquired permits, with many more working illegally.
“When you are giving access to the labor market, when you are trying to close temporary education centers and integrate Syrians into Turkish schools, when you are doing migrant health centers — this is integration,” said an aid worker in Turkey, who asked not be identified.
In a blue and yellow-painted secondary school in Ankara, refugee children are introduced to Turkish idiom through pictures: a torso with a chunk of meat instead of a head is “et kafali,” a Turkish expression that translates to “meat head” but means stupid.
Syrian students take turns reading out loud a book passage about touring Istanbul.
One schoolboy said learning Turkish was important to him because his family did not plan to return. He paused a second, eyes glancing down and then darting around in doubt, before repeating himself: “We’re not going back to Syria.”

Election talk, bitter exile
Ahead of the elections on Sunday, Erdogan has stressed he is creating conditions in Syria for people to go back. “We aim to create safe zones in which the nearly 4 million Syrian refugees still living in our country can return to their own homes,” he said in January.
Former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, campaigning to be mayor of Istanbul for Erdogan’s AK Party, said this week that Syrians could disrupt peace in the city.
“If they negatively impact normal life and order here, there will be repercussions. We cannot tolerate this and we will send them back,” he said.
Similar language emerged in presidential election rallies last year, and the government regularly declares that hundreds of thousands of Syrians have already returned to parts of north Syria where Turkey has carried out two military operations.
The interior minister said last month that nearly 312,000 had returned. The United Nations has not been able to corroborate that figure.
“Turkey’s view toward Syrians depends on the political environment,” the aid worker said. “But operationally speaking, Turkey has been doing a fantastic job in integration for the last eight years.”
Nevertheless, Turkey’s stumbling economy and rising unemployment has fueled some resentment against Syrians.
Last month an altercation between Syrians and Turks in Istanbul’s Esenyurt, a major refugee district, left four people injured, the state-owned Anadolu Agency reported.
Turks rushed to the street afterwards, vandalising Syrian stores and chanting: “This is Turkey.”
Clashes like that remain an exception for now, and Sahlabji says he can’t see how he can return to a country still in turmoil and where he worries about being arrested because of his son’s days fighting with the rebels.
He says no one in Turkey bothers his family, and he dismisses Erdogan’s claims that all Syrians will leave.
“That’s election talk,” he smiled. “When elections are over, it’s over.”
But he choked up when talking about living in exile.
“Truthfully, it’s not that it’s hard — it’s bitter.” 


Israeli settlers hold wedding ceremony inside Al-Aqsa Mosque under police protection

Updated 4 sec ago
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Israeli settlers hold wedding ceremony inside Al-Aqsa Mosque under police protection

  • The Jerusalem Governorate deemed the move ‘provocative and humiliating’

LONDON: Israeli authorities permitted a wedding engagement ceremony for Jewish settlers within the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied Old City of East Jerusalem on Monday.

The Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Governorate deemed the move “provocative and humiliating,” describing it as a transformation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque into what resembles a public hall for celebrations by extremist settlers.

“(This is) a flagrant violation of the sanctity of the mosque, a serious provocation of the feelings of Muslims, and a deliberate attempt to impose a new reality that erases the Islamic identity of the site and paves the way for its division temporally and spatially,” the Jerusalem Governorate said.

On Monday, settlers, accompanied by Israeli police, toured the Al-Aqsa compound. Police prevented Palestinians from approaching the settlers to disrupt the ceremony, according to the Wafa news agency.

The Jerusalem Governorate said that Israeli policies aim to impose sovereignty on Al-Aqsa Mosque, stressing that these repeated provocations contradict international law and the 2016 UNESCO resolution, which recognized Al-Aqsa Mosque as an Islamic heritage site and called for its preservation.

Since 1967, the Jerusalem Endowments Council, which operates under Jordan’s Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, has been the legal authority responsible for managing and regulating the affairs of Al-Aqsa.

However, this status quo has been challenged in recent years by extremist settlers who regularly tour the site under the protection of Israeli police and are often accompanied by government officials and far-right ministers and activists.


UK MPs demand Ukraine-style visa route for Gazans

Updated 59 min 17 sec ago
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UK MPs demand Ukraine-style visa route for Gazans

  • Letter to PM: ‘The same generosity should be extended to Palestinian families’
  • Death toll ‘likely to be exponentially higher’ than official figure due to collapse of local govt, health systems

LONDON: MPs in the UK are calling on the government to launch a visa system for Palestinians in Gaza with family already living in Britain.

Sixty-seven politicians have written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper asking for a Gaza Family Scheme mirroring the Ukraine Family Scheme established in 2022 to help refugees escape the war with Russia. It allowed Ukrainians to live and work in the UK for up to three years.

“We believe that the same generosity should be extended to Palestinian families,” said the letter, seen by Sky News.

Signatories include 35 Labour MPs and members of the House of Lords, as well as several people currently suspended from the governing party, including its former leader Jeremy Corbyn and former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell. 

All four sitting members of the Green Party have also signed, alongside former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron and the Bishop of Chelmsford Dr. Guli Francis-Dehquani.

The letter accuses Israel of “shattering the temporary ceasefire agreement” with Hamas in Gaza, and of conducting a “campaign of bombardment and military assaults, and targeting of people accessing humanitarian aid.”

MP Marsha de Cordova, who helped organize the letter alongside the Gaza Families Reunited campaign, told Sky News that the Ukraine visa scheme “was the right response to a brutal war,” and that establishing one for Gazans “would be an extension of those same principles, showing that this government is steadfast in its commitment to helping families experiencing the worst horrors of war.

“It is time for the government to act now to help British Palestinians get their loved ones to safety, enabling them to rebuild their lives.”

The letter said the proposed scheme would let Palestinians reunite with “people they may never see again unless urgent action is taken,” and many Gazans trying to reach the UK “struggled to navigate the immigration system.”

It added that efforts to secure visas have been made “impossible due to the destruction of the visa application centre in Gaza and blockade of the Rafah crossing.”

The letter said the death toll in Gaza, reported by Palestinian authorities as numbering at least 53,000 people, “is likely to be exponentially higher” due to the collapse of local government and health systems in the enclave.

Ghassan Ghaben, spokesperson for Gaza Families Reunited, told Sky News: “Family unity is an undeniable human right.”

He urged more MPs, including Conservatives, to add their names to efforts to help get Palestinians to the UK, saying: “We are still waiting for the new government to do the right thing. We, as Palestinians in the UK, simply want the opportunity to bring our loved ones from Gaza to safety, until it is safe to return.”

A government spokesperson told Sky News: “The death and destruction in Gaza is intolerable. Since day one, we have been clear that we need to see an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages cruelly detained by Hamas, better protection of civilians, significantly more aid consistently entering Gaza, and a path to long-term peace and stability.

“There are a range of routes available for Palestinians who wish to join family members in the UK.”


Israel steps up Gaza bombardment ahead of White House talks on ceasefire

Updated 30 June 2025
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Israel steps up Gaza bombardment ahead of White House talks on ceasefire

  • Israel’s Dermer due in US for talks on Gaza, Iran, wider deals
  • Israeli tanks push into Gaza City suburb, residents say

CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Palestinians in northern Gaza reported one of the worst nights of Israeli bombardment in weeks after the military issued mass evacuation orders on Monday, while Israeli officials were due in Washington for a new ceasefire push by the Trump administration.
A day after US President Donald Trump urged an end to the 20-month-old war, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected at the White House for talks on a Gaza ceasefire, Iran, and possible wider regional diplomatic deals.
But on the ground in the Palestinian enclave there was no sign of fighting letting up.
“Explosions never stopped; they bombed schools and homes. It felt like earthquakes,” said Salah, 60, a father of five children, from Gaza City. “In the news we hear a ceasefire is near, on the ground we see death and we hear explosions.”
Israeli tanks pushed into the eastern areas of Zeitoun suburb in Gaza City and shelled several areas in the north, while aircraft bombed at least four schools after ordering hundreds of families sheltering inside to leave, residents said.
At least 38 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Monday, health authorities said, including 10 people killed in Zeitoun and at least 13 killed southwest of Gaza City. Medics said most of the 13 were hit by gunfire, but residents also reported an airstrike.
The Israeli military said it struck militant targets in northern Gaza, including command and control centers, after taking steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians.
There was no immediate word from Israel on the reported casualties southwest of Gaza City.
The heavy bombardment followed new evacuation orders to vast areas in the north, where Israeli forces had operated before and left behind wide-scale destruction. The military ordered people there to head south, saying that it planned to fight Hamas militants operating in northern Gaza, including in the heart of Gaza City.

NEXT STEPS
A day after Trump called to “Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back,” Israel’s strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer, a confidant of Netanyahu’s, was expected on Monday at the White House for talks on Iran and Gaza, an Israeli official said.
In Israel, Netanyahu’s security cabinet was expected to convene to discuss the next steps in Gaza.
On Friday, Israel’s military chief said the present ground operation was close to having achieved its goals, and on Sunday, Netanyahu said new opportunities had opened up for recovering the hostages, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.
Palestinian and Egyptian sources with knowledge of the latest ceasefire efforts said that mediators Qatar and Egypt have stepped up their contacts with the two warring sides, but that no date has been set yet for a new round of truce talks.
A Hamas official said that progress depends on Israel changing its position and agreeing to end the war and withdraw from Gaza. Israel says it can end the war only when Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that Israel has agreed to a US-proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage deal, and put the onus on Hamas.
“Israel is serious in its will to reach a hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza,” Saar told reporters in Jerusalem.
Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger, speaking in Jerusalem on Monday alongside her Israeli counterpart, told reporters that Vienna was very concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which she described as “unbearable.”
“Let me be frank, the suffering of civilians is increasingly burdening Israel’s relations with Europe. A ceasefire must be agreed upon,” she said, calling for the unconditional release of hostages by Hamas and for Israel to allow the uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Israel says it continues to allow aid into Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing it. The group denies that accusation and says Israel uses hunger as a weapon against the Gaza population.
The US has proposed a 60-day ceasefire and the release of half the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and the remains of other Palestinians. Hamas would release the remaining hostages as part of a deal that guarantees ending the war.
The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel on October 7 2023, killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took 251 hostages back to Gaza in a surprise attack that led to Israel’s single deadliest day.
Israel’s subsequent military assault has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry, displaced almost the whole 2.3 million population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.
More than 80 percent of the territory is now an Israeli-militarized zone or under displacement orders, according to the United Nations.


No injuries or pollution after explosion at oil tanker off Libya, says operator

Updated 30 June 2025
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No injuries or pollution after explosion at oil tanker off Libya, says operator

  • The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Vilamoura had left Libya’s Zuetina port and was en route to Gibraltar

ATHENS: An oil tanker carrying about 1 million barrels of crude oil suffered an explosion off Libya on June 27 but no injuries or pollution were reported, a spokesperson for the operator TMS Tankers said on Monday.

The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Vilamoura had left Libya’s Zuetina port and was en route to Gibraltar when there was an explosion in the engine room, the operator said.

The vessel is now being towed to Greece where it is expected to arrive by July 2, it added.


Israel FM says Golan to ‘remain part of’ Israel in any Syria peace deal

Updated 30 June 2025
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Israel FM says Golan to ‘remain part of’ Israel in any Syria peace deal

  • Golan Heights “will remain part of” Israel under any potential peace agreement with Syria, Israel's FM says

JERUSALEM: Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Monday that the occupied Golan Heights “will remain part of” Israel under any potential peace agreement with Syria.
“In any peace agreement, the Golan will remain part of the State of Israel,” Saar told a news conference in Jerusalem, referring to the territory Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognized by the United Nations.