Syrian refugees to be moved out of Hatay

Many of these families, who weren't placed in refugee camps, are trying to make it on their own in cities such as Gaziantep, Adana and Hatay. Often, there are two or three families in one house sharing the rent. Those who can't afford housing have been placed in schools.

Two families from Homs, who number 17 people in total, are currently paying TL 650 rent monthly for their Antakya apartment. Abdunnasır, who preferred not to use his full name, is the father in one of the families, cannot work because has not yet been able to acquire the required documents papers. His son-in-law, Bilal, is paralyzed from the waist down after half of his body was stuck under the rubble of their Homs home, which collapsed during an airstrike by Bashar al-Assad's forces.

They didn't want to leave Syria initially. They moved to the house of a relative in town after losing their house, but this next dwelling also became a target of regime forces. They then moved to a town outside Homs, and started living with other relatives. They had to leave the country when the violence spread to the city where they took refuge. They entered Turkey legally with their passports, and are now worried that they, along with some 5,000 other Syrians in Hatay who don't yet have refugee status, might be forced to move once again.

The Syrians in Hatay are likely to be moved, after a number of incidents in the province, where 40 percent of the population are Arab Alevi's. The government, increasingly worried that tension between refugees and locals might turn into unrest, is making plans to move Syrian migrants to other areas that have lower Alevi populations, although this move will not include the refugees housed in refugee camps.

There have been stories circulating in the national and local Hatay media that Syrian migrants are causing trouble in the city, although the Governor's Office denied that the migrants were involved in any criminal activity. Despite the government's denial, they have decided to act and move the Syrians.

The government says that new visas or residence permits for Syrians who entered the country with passports cannot be issued if they do not relocate. They also argue that relocating will help migrants integrate, and asserts that the idea to relocate the refugees is only about adhering to the regular procedures for Syrian visitors and has nothing to do with the recent incidents in Hatay. Under the new plan, Syrians who live in the city will be allowed to choose from a number of cities to move to, except for the seven Turkish cities with the highest Alevi populations. The state will cover the transportation costs.

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Syrians who have been residing in Hatay as migrants without refugee status have established some sort of order in their daily lives over the past 17 months. They have set up two hospitals where soldiers from the Syrian opposition are treated by volunteers. The hospitals have no nurses or caregivers. Sending Syrians out of the city might undermine this and similar activities. There are also two schools in the city, which were opened for children from Syria last year. It is also not clear how the issue of children's education will be solved if the Syrians are relocated to different cities.

A local official who asked to remain unnamed said the refugees and migrants in Hatay support opposition forces, saying sending them away might undermine the opposition's fight against Assad. However, the same official said that preventing conflict with locals was more important as a domestic security concern.