We want our Syrian brothers and sisters who took refuge in our country to live in peace in their own country.” “How long must we carry this heavy load?” Kilicdaroglu said in an address to ambassadors from European nations last month. Kilicdaroglu has also said that he would renegotiate a 2016 migration deal between Turkey and the European Union, under which the EU offered the country billions of euros in return for Ankara’s cooperation in stemming the flow of refugees into European countries. If elected, he would seek European Union funds to build homes, schools, hospitals and other amenities in Syria and encourage Turkish entrepreneurs to open factories and businesses to create employment.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the joint candidate of an alliance of opposition parties that includes nationalists, says he plans to repatriate Syrians on a voluntary basis within two years. However, faced with a wave of backlash against refugees, his government has been seeking ways to resettle Syrians back home. Erdogan himself has not mentioned the migration issue on the campaign trail.

The repatriation of Syrians and other migrants has become a top theme in Sunday’s presidential and parliamentary elections when the country will decide whether to give incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a new mandate to rule or bring an opposition candidate to power.Īll three presidential hopefuls running against Erdogan have promised to send refugees back. A shortage of housing and shelters following a devastating earthquake in February revived calls for the return of Syrians, who number at least 3.7 million. But as their numbers grew - and as the country began to grapple with a battered economy, including skyrocketing food and housing prices - so did calls for their return. Syrians fleeing the civil war - now into its 12th year - were once welcomed in Turkey out of compassion, making the country home to the world’s largest refugee community.

Book turn of the key