234 Stateless Syrians in Turkey and Lebanon
mother having a newborn baby could submit their documents to the Ministry of Interior within 30
days, and in return, they could receive their birth certificates. However, because it is not known by
Syrians, it cannot be said that there is sufficient consciousness in the registration process. Because
immigrants are still reluctant to follow the process by thinking that the transactions are being carried
out at the Syrian consulate. At this point, a public education campaign was launched to raise
awareness of the importance of registration in Turkey. While the recording of Syria in Turkey is
carried out through local authorities, the situation of nonregistration and deprivation of fundamental
rights begins if the displaced Syrians do not report these displacements to the authorities. Syrians,
who do not report the address change to the authorities, are not able to gain access to the services
of health, education and other social rights made by institutions (other than an emergency) for both
themselves and their children (Reynolds and Grisgrabber, 2015, p. 6). The gradual improvement of
the processes of Syrians necessitates new works and opportunities, also, Turkey’s work on this issue
is coordinated with the UN. With the above-mentioned agreements, the aim of the UN to prevent
and completely eliminate the phenomenon of statelessness in the next 10 years can be stated to have
been effective in taking these steps. In addition, making the system ready and solving the systemic
problems were accelerated in Turkey in order for both security and making Syrians benefit from the
fundamental rights. In this respect, registration refers to access to the services offered by the hosting
State rather than giving citizenship to the individual. However, it causes unregistered individuals to
experience the problem of statelessness more intensively.
In Turkey, based on Article 91 of Law on Foreigners and International Protection, the positions
of Syrians are determined as follows. “Temporary protection may be provided for foreigners who
have been forced to leave their country, cannot return to the country that they have left, and have
arrived at or crossed the borders of Turkey in a mass influx situation seeking immediate and
temporary protection4”. Millions of Syrians having to migrate from their countries caused serious
social crises in neighboring countries, especially in Turkey. In addition to the millions of migrated
victims described as “Syrian”, it is strongly likely that infants and children, who could even not be
considered as migrants or Syrians, will stand out as a more visible social problem in the near
process. Turkey, as one of the prominent countries in this regard with the open-door policy for
Syrians, can face various problems at the issue of registration as a result of unreported de facto
newborns. But at this point, one of the most important issues that stand out as an international issue
is especially children born in a different country, who cannot register their citizenship due to
political problems in their country.
Considering the Syrian children, it is seen that the problem is gained in a more important
dimension depending on the size of the mass. At this point, it is necessary to express that the
realisation of registration systems is currently an important issue for the migration-receiving
country, otherwise, the child’s identity is inevitable to be reduced to the verbal definition of “Syrian”
in case of non-registration.
According to the article 8 of the second section in the Turkish Citizenship Law no 5901,
entitled Acquisition of Turkish citizenship, (1) “A child born in Turkey, but acquiring no citizenship
of any State by birth through his/her alien mother or father is a Turkish citizen from the moment of
birth. (2) A child found in Turkey is deemed born in Turkey unless otherwise proven”. This law is,
in fact, open to the interpretation in terms of being a Turkish citizen for infants who cannot prove
4
http://www.goc.gov.tr/files/files/eng_minikanun_5_son.pdf
BORDER CROSSING