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Turkey Bans Syrians From Spending Adha Eid at Home

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu speaks at the Migration Board Meeting held in the Golbasi Provinces House in the capital Ankara, Turkey, June 9, 2022. (AA)
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu speaks at the Migration Board Meeting held in the Golbasi Provinces House in the capital Ankara, Turkey, June 9, 2022. (AA)
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Turkey Bans Syrians From Spending Adha Eid at Home

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu speaks at the Migration Board Meeting held in the Golbasi Provinces House in the capital Ankara, Turkey, June 9, 2022. (AA)
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu speaks at the Migration Board Meeting held in the Golbasi Provinces House in the capital Ankara, Turkey, June 9, 2022. (AA)

Turkey on Sunday said it would ban Syrian refugees living in Turkey from visiting their families back home during Eid al-Adha, similar to the restrictions imposed on their visits to Syria during Eid al-Fitr holiday last April, said Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.

Each year, thousands of Syrian refugees cross the border into Syria to celebrate the holidays and then return to Turkey.

“This is currently not acceptable. Those wishing to return to Syria will receive a one-way transit permit,” Soylo said at a press conference Saturday in Ankara.

The Adha festival is set for mid-July this year.

The Interior Minister also spoke about the new quotas that his country will begin imposing on the number of residence permits for foreigners.

He said that as of July 1, Turkey will limit residence permits for foreigners to 20 percent of the population of certain neighborhoods, adding that the rule will effectively shut 1,200 neighborhoods to more foreign residents.

Soylu addressed the new procedures and controls that will be applied in the next stage, saying that the percentage of foreigners allowed to reside in each neighborhood will be reduced from 25 percent to 20 percent, starting from the first of July.

Accordingly, 1,200 neighborhoods will be closed to requests for residence in Turkey.

The Turkish authorities had announced in the past months a number of measures to enforce stricter restrictions on the areas where Syrians can reside.

The new rules came as anti-immigrant sentiment piles pressure on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before next year’s elections.

On Wednesday, the Turkish Interior Minister said taxi drivers are allowed to check the travel permit documents of foreign passengers, in a move to limit the transportation of illegal immigrants.

He said a camera system will be installed in truck stops to prevent stowaways from cutting holes and hiding in the tarpaulins of trucks.

In the framework of combating illegal immigration, the Turkish Interior Ministry said that 34,112 immigrants who entered the country illegally early this year have been deported.

There are about 3.7 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.

In February, the Turkish authorities said 16 provinces, including Istanbul, Bursa, Ankara, Antalya, Izmir and Hatay, where the Syrian population is particularly high, have already stopped issuing residencies for newly arrived foreigners.

Soylu also announced on Saturday that some Syrians will not receive the temporary protection cards, or Kimlik, after they enter Turkish territory in certain ways.

He said Syrians coming from their country will be transferred to camps in Hatay and will be questioned about their places of residence in Syria. The Minister said that if those Syrians reside in Damascus, they will be returned home immediately.

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50 European Leaders Assess How Trump Will Affect their Fortunes

In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on November 7, 2024, European leaders, including Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (1st row, C) and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (1st row, 3rd L) pose for a group photo during the European Political Community Summit in Budapest. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)
In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on November 7, 2024, European leaders, including Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (1st row, C) and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (1st row, 3rd L) pose for a group photo during the European Political Community Summit in Budapest. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)
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50 European Leaders Assess How Trump Will Affect their Fortunes

In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on November 7, 2024, European leaders, including Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (1st row, C) and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (1st row, 3rd L) pose for a group photo during the European Political Community Summit in Budapest. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)
In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on November 7, 2024, European leaders, including Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (1st row, C) and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (1st row, 3rd L) pose for a group photo during the European Political Community Summit in Budapest. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)

Around 50 European leaders on Thursday called for a stronger defense posture across the continent that no longer necessitates a fundamental dependence on Washington as they gave a guarded welcome to incoming US President Donald Trump.
The European Political Community summit on Thursday in Hungary's capital Budapest reassessed trans-Atlantic relations in the hope that Donald Trump's second US presidency will avoid the strife of his first administration.
“He was elected by the American people. He will defend the American interests," French President Emmanuel Macron told the other leaders, adding that it was not the role of European Union leaders to “comment on the election ... to wonder if it is good or not.”
“The question is whether we are willing to defend the European interest. It is the only question. It is our priority,” The Associated Press quoted Macron as saying.
Time and again, leaders stepped up to say European defense efforts should be increased.
During his first 2017-2021 presidency, Trump strongly pushed the European NATO allies to spend more on defense, up to and beyond 2% of gross domestic product, and to be less reliant on US military cover. That point has totally sunk in.
“He was the one in NATO who stimulated us to move over the 2%. And now, also thanks to him, NATO, if you take out the numbers of the US, is above the 2%,” NATO chief Mark Rutte said.
Charles Michel, the council president of the 27-nation EU, agreed that the continent needed to become less reliant on the United States.
“We have to be more masters of our destiny,” he said. “Not because of Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, but because of our children.”
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said it was “time to wake up from our geopolitical naivete and to realize that we need to commit additional resources in order to be able to address major challenges. It is a (question of) competitiveness and a European defense.”
During his election campaign, Trump threatened anything from a trade war with Europe to a withdrawal from NATO commitments and a fundamental shift of support for Ukraine in its war with Russia — all issues that could have groundbreaking consequences for nations across Europe.
“Of course he said a lot of things during the campaign,” said Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, adding they won't all be appearing in his official policies. “Transatlantic cooperation is of the utmost importance both for the US and European interests.”
For now, European leaders hope a new beginning holds the promise of smoother relations.
Rutte, who was Dutch prime minister during Trump's first presidency, said, “I worked with him very well for four years. He is extremely clear about what he wants. He understands that you have to deal with each other to come to joint positions. And I think we can do that.”
And Rutte insisted that the challenges posed by Russia in Ukraine affected both sides of the Atlantic.
“Russia is delivering the latest technology into North Korea in return for North Korean help with the war against Ukraine. And this is a threat not only to the European part of NATO, but also to the US mainland,” he said as he arrived at the summit.
During the campaign, Trump said if he were reelected, he would end the war in Ukraine, now well into its third year, in a single day. Ukraine and many of its European backers fear that this means a peace on terms favorable to Russian President Vladimir Putin and involving the surrender of territory.
European allies in NATO hope to convince Trump that if he helps to negotiate any peace, it should be done from a position of strength, for both Ukraine and the US.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who spoke to Trump last night by phone, told reporters in Budapest that Europe and the US need each other to remain strong.
“It was a good, productive conversation. Of course, we cannot yet know what his specific actions will be. But we hope that America will become stronger. This is the kind of America Europe needs. And a strong Europe is what America needs. This is the bond between allies that should be valued and must not be lost,” he said.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the summit’s host and an ardent Trump fan, said early Thursday that he already had a phone call with the incoming president overnight, announcing, “We have big plans for the future!”
So did hard-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who lauded the “deep and historic strategic partnership that has always tied Rome and Washington.”
That partnership came under constant pressure during Trump’s first term. Trump’s administration slapped tariffs on EU steel and aluminum in 2018, based on the claim that foreign products, even if produced by American allies, were a threat to US national security. Europeans and other allies retaliated with duties on US-made motorcycles, peanut butter and jeans, among other items.
Further compounding an already complicated situation in Europe, Germany — the continent's troubled economic juggernaut — sank into political crisis after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired his finance minister, causing his governing coalition to collapse. Scholz, who remained in Berlin instead of joining the summit in Budapest, will now lead a minority government.
The turmoil raises the specter of an election in a few months and yet another standoff between the emboldened hard right and the establishment parties in Europe.
Those two combined “adds even more pepper and salt to this situation,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.