Refugees tell Al Jazeera why they worry about being returned to the Turkish province they arrived in, or worse, Idlib.
Names marked with an asterisk* have been changed to protect identities Sitting in an inner-city Istanbul park, Ahmad* was enjoying music and the company of his friends, until someone spotted police walking over. His heart started racing, though calmly he stood up and started walking away, between the trees and out through the park’s gates. He sat for a moment to gather himself and work out his next steps. By this stage he was overcome with fear. This state of panic has become the norm for hundreds of thousands of Syrians who call Istanbul home, since the Turkish government announced a crackdown on unregistered migrants in the city. Since July 12, Turkish authorities have arrested at least 6,000 unregistered migrants in Istanbul, including 1,000 Syrians, according to Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.
Around one million Syrians live in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, though only 547,479 are registered in the metropolis.
Of the remaining Syrians, around 350,000 are registered with temporary protection in other cities within Turkey, and roughly 100,000 are unregistered, according to figures from the Migrant Solidarity Association. For refugees like Ahmad, who fled Syria in 2015 after being imprisoned for participating in protests against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, the current situation in Istanbul reminds him of Syria. He told Al Jazeera he was heavily traumatised by Syrian police, always having to hide from them during the revolution.“Now I feel exactly like I did in Syria, trying to go as far from the police as I can,” Ahmad said. Source: aljazeera.com
Sunday, April 26, 2026
