Erdoğan: Dual Citizenship for Syrians
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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has answered the questions of journalists while returning back from the Warsaw 2016 NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Summit in Poland.
With regards to the discussions on naturalization of Syrian refugees, Erdoğan has noted that granting dual citizenship could come into question.
Concerning the claims of Bahoz Erdal getting killed, Erdoğan has noted; “The information we acquired also indicate the same. There are some information implying that he has been killed while he was by a 14-person group on the Syrian side. The effort to confirm the information continue”.
Erdoğan answering the questions regarding the naturalization of Syrian citizens has been reflected on Verda Özer’s report from Hürriyet daily as follows:
You have made a statement on the naturalization of Syrians. It has been a much-debated issue. Would you like to make a comment on the matter?
“Let me tell you frankly, Some politicians babbling about the naturalization issue upsets me seriously. [...] Today, a Turk can get German or US citizenship, why can’t it be the same for those who live in our country?
“[...] Right now, they have immigrated from their homeland and [...] and taken shelter by us. Are we going to condemn these refugees to camps or the empty basement of some houses for years? We sometimes see 10-15 persons squeezed on a basement. Instead of that, our relevant ministries, and intelligence service could conduct a study and [...] and let’s place the arriving Syrians to certain places in our country. If necessary, TOKİ (Housing Development Administration of Turkey) has even free residences”.
It is being argued as ‘What if they do not return?’...
Dual citizenship could apply. Do dual citizens and those who have acquired citizenship necessarily have to return. In US, some among those who have been naturalized, return later back to their countries and some do not. Do all the Turks who acquire the German citizenship in Germany return back to their countries? When they went there in 1963, no one asked them whether they would return or not. There is no need to hold back., this nation lives on a 780.000 km2 land with its 79 people. Germany with only half as much as area has a population of 85 million. We are a country which could easily overcome this. (NV/DG)