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Turkey moots plan to grant citizenship to Syrians

“EU leaders, many of them facing pressure from the extreme right amid growing public hostility to immigration, are likely to be reluctant to extend the exemption to Syrians for fear that they would plan to settle in Europe or that Isis operatives would travel to the continent to commit terror attacks”, the article says. “It is not clear if they will be included in this scheme or not”, he said.

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Turkish authorities have detained at least 24 people in raids in several Istanbul neighborhoods over possible connections to the attack.

“There are highly qualified individuals among Syrian refugees in Turkey”.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu informed that the meeting of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to be held sooner than scheduled, “Armenpress” reports, he said in an interview with the Turkish TRT TV.

“I want to announce some good news”, media quoted Erdogan as saying late Saturday at a dinner to break the Ramadan fast on the Syrian border.

Syrian refugees living in Turkey also got involved in the online discussion, expressing their disappointment over the hashtag. “We are going to help our Syrian friends in offering them the chance, if they want it, to acquire Turkish nationality”.

Around 2.7 million Syrians who have fled the devastating civil war in their country have taken shelter inside Turkey.

“We will give the chance to [acquire] citizenship by helping out these brothers and sisters by monitoring through offices set up by the ministry”, Erdogan added.

Erdogan has previously condemned the “coup” against Morsi, and in a show of solidarity at rallies he often uses a four-finger hand gesture known as “Rabia” – seen as a symbol of the Muslim Brotherhood.

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Ankara has refused to grant refugee status to Syrians who have crossed the border since 2011, the beginning of the Syrian conflict, referring to them as “guests”.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to thousands of his supporters who greeted the prime minister at Istanbul airport on his return from a North African tour