Page 142 - Syrians in Türkiye - Special Report

GRAND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF TÜRKİYE THE OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTION

For those who do not pass the security investigation, there is no option to send them
back to Syria, so they must be kept at deportation centers. Within this scope, the
Syrians who do not pass background checks are evaluated according to Article 8 of the
Temporary Protection Regulation.

In addition to this, it is also possible that institutions such as EGM, the Gendarmerie
and MIT can extend the 30-day period for security investigations of Syrians applying for
temporary protection; accordingly, these individuals may encounter delayed receipt of
their foreign identity numbers which will enable them to access the rights and facilities
granted to them in our country. It is necessary to provide personnel support to the
security units in the areas where the relevant investigations are conducted; to maintain
public security these investigations are important, but the capacity to accelerate the
process needs to be increased. Pre-registered Syrians can suffer as a result the prolonged
waiting period because they cannot access rights and services during this time. In fact,
the reason for this practice is that those who were accepted into the country without
a completed security investigation do not have a different status than others who have
temporary protection ID cards. Even if the investigation results in a denial of status,
these applicants can remain freely in the country until the investigation is completed.
Therefore, this can create security problems.

On the other hand, there are complaints that pre-registered people face problems in
using many public services. These include access to health services, children’s school
enrollment, social assistance and ability to travel throughout the country. The main
source of the problem is that security checks take time. The absence of relations with the
Syrian Arab Republic makes it difficult to conduct a security investigation and causes
delays. On the other hand, it is clearly necessary to conduct security investigations
before the temporary protection status is granted. However, the distinction between
those who enter the registry and access to public services causes significant grievances.
In this context, it is necessary to remove the obstacles to accessing services even if the
investigation extends beyond 30 days, these applicants should be able to benefit from
services like those who have temporary protection status. Enrollment in school and
access to medical services for pre-registered individuals is often left to the initiative
of the local authorities. For a while, enrollment for children who have pre-registration
was left to the discretion local administrators, some of whom did not want to enroll
students without a temporary protection ID card. Therefore, there have been some
different applications throughout the country. However, in a meeting with Ministry of
National Education officials, we learned that the situation has changed; children are
enrolled in schools all over the country in order to prevent them from being deprived of
the right to education. Similar arrangements are needed in other service areas.

142 SYRIANS IN TÜRKİYE SPECIAL REPORT