Senior Turkish MP backs citizenship for Syrian children

By Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA

The head of the parliament's Human Rights Committee has called for considering the option to give Turkish citizenship to Syrian children born in Turkey.

Syrian children born in Turkey are stateless, which may lead to “a lost generation", Omer Serdar, committee head and senior lawmaker from the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, said on Wednesday.

"Analysis on impact of giving citizenship to such children born in Turkey should be made, and a legislative arrangement should also be made depending on the outcome of the analysis," Serdar said.

He said Turkey had so far spent more than $30 billion on the wellbeing of the Syrian population in the country.

On the other hand, the resources for Syrian refugees given to Turkey by the UN was about $600 million, he added.

Turkey hosts more than 3.5 million Syrians, more than any other country in the world.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict, according to UN figures.