Turkish opposition returns to exploit the issue of naturalized immigrants!

BY| Orient News

The Turkish opposition returns to exploiting the issue of naturalized immigrants, and the Turkish Ministry of Interior refutes the allegations

The General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs of the Turkish Ministry of Interior refuted the allegations of some Turkish opposition media regarding inflating the number of naturalized Syrians who are entitled to participate in the elections scheduled for next year.

According to Turkish media, the Turkish Population Directorate announced that the allegations of “registering 466,000 Syrians in the electoral lists” do not reflect the truth.
The Directorate said in a statement: “There are 163,044 people aged 18 years and over, whose birthplace is in Syria, and they are registered in the population records (including those who have obtained citizenship).”
The Directorate of Civil Affairs announced that the total number of Syrians who obtained Turkish citizenship amounted to 221,671 people.

The Directorate indicated that 125,563 of them are over 18 years old (they have the right to vote in elections), while there are 96,108 children.
The Directorate added, “As it is known, the fact that a person’s place of birth is abroad does not mean that he is a foreigner, nor does it mean that he has acquired Turkish citizenship. These people, with the exception of newly acquired citizenship, are our citizens who were born abroad to a Turkish mother and/or father (citizens). Turkish by birth).
“Cumhuriyet Halk” sparks debate about naturalized Syrians
And last August, the Turkish Ministry of Interior threatened the head of the opposition Cumhuriyet Halk party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, with filing a lawsuit against him following his statements in which he claimed that he had information that Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Commission did not have regarding the numbers of voters who would vote in the 2023 elections, including Naturalized Syrians.

In a statement, the ministry demanded that Kilicdaroglu explain how he obtained information that the Supreme Council for Elections does not have, but he claims to have it, otherwise a criminal complaint will be filed against him for violating relevant legislation.

The statement confirmed that Kilicdaroglu had placed the General Directorate for Population and Citizenship Affairs, which provides voter information, “under suspicion by targeting it.”
This came after an interview Kilicdaroglu gave to the Turkish newspaper “Sözcü” in which he refuted allegations that there are 500,000 voters, most of whom are Syrian refugees. Some parties and media outlets had previously spoken about them, led by Umit Ozdag, head of the Victory Party, according to Turkish media.
He said, “The voter information that we have is not in the hands of the Supreme Council for Elections. We know every voter, including those who will go to the polls for the first time, and we know their homes and addresses, and we look at their place of birth.”
He continued, “We look at their records…born in Syria, born in Afghanistan, so that we can deduce who has acquired citizenship.”
Supporters of the Cumhuriyet Halk party had claimed that the government would collect the votes of naturalized immigrants to run in the elections, while the deputy head of the CHP parliamentary group, Engin Ozkosh, said in an interview with Cumhuriyet newspaper a few months ago, “There is a possibility that Erdogan will provoke the elections with all kinds of tricks and methods. “He annulled the elections that were won illegally in Istanbul. So Erdogan can recruit votes from refugees.”

The number of naturalized Syrians
Last August, Turkish Interior Minister Suleiman Soylu shared data regarding the number of Syrians who obtained Turkish citizenship who can participate in the upcoming presidential elections in 2023.
He said that the number of naturalized Syrians who have the right to vote is 120,000 out of approximately 211,000 voters, 91,000 of whom are children and minors, and the remaining 120,000, comprising 60,000 men and 55,000 women.