Turkey expels 50,000 migrants since July

ISTANBUL: Turkey said on Friday it had expelled close to 50,000 migrants from Istanbul, including more than 6,000 Syrians, since the start of a crackdown on undocumented immigration. The Istanbul governor’s office said 42,888 “illegal” migrants had been arrested and sent to repatriation centres with a view to removing them from Turkey, without giving their nationalities. It said 6,416 Syrians had been placed in “temporary refuge centres”.

A campaign from July through to the end of October was aimed at reducing the number of unregistered refugees in Turkey’s biggest city and economic hub.

The country hosts some 3.6 million Syrian refugees—more than any other country—though technically they are only under “temporary protection” because the government does not offer them formal refugee status. Under the system, they must stay in the province to which they were initially assigned, and can only visit other cities with short-term passes.