GAZIANTEP, Turkey - When his rebel fighter son was killed and life in Syria beca...
GAZIANTEP, Turkey - When his rebel fighter son was killed and life in Syria became impossible for Jamal Sahlabji, he and his remaining family packed up and joined hundreds of thousands fleeing to neighboring countries.
Despite political rhetoric to the contrary, and with the support of international donors, Turkey is quietly paving the way to integrate many of its nearly 4 million Syrians - by far the biggest group of refugees who have spilled over Syria’s borders during the eight-year-old civil war. “We’re hopeful we can create a future for our children,” Ahmed said. “We’ve put them in schools and we’re spending on them so that maybe they study and go to university and make something of themselves, God willing.”Most Syrians in Turkey are still registered as refugees. A few are unregistered, and a small proportion - at least 55,000 - have been granted Turkish citizenship.
Some refugees are being gradually taken off a smart-card system, an emergency measure to deliver cash for rent or groceries, and recent projects focus more on helping Syrians mix into Turkish society. Because most Syrians initially thought they would eventually return home, they at first placed their Arabic-speaking children in temporary education centers and afternoon schools, where classes were held mostly held in Arabic.
Alongside those schemes, the Ankara government has made it easier for Syrians to get work permits - helping bring them into the formal labor market in Turkey, home to 82 million people. Former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, campaigning to be mayor of Istanbul for Erdogan’s AK Party, said this week that Syrians could disrupt peace in the city.
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