The first Syrian refugees to enter Turkey started to cross the border in April 2011. Their plight was not fully known back then, but the expectations were that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his regime would be deposed in six months to a year, and that the refugees would all soon go back to their homes. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised them the borders would remain open for those who escaped to safety in Turkey without taking into consideration whether they had their passports or proof of identification with them. Since then it has been three years, and the number of Syrians in Turkey is now estimated to be around 1,500,000.

Although Turkey set up 22 camps for them, these were not adequate to accommodate the growing numbers of refugees. Many refugees also chose to live outside the camps. Day by day, the problems of these refugees only grow more chronic and complicated in a foreign land. There are no reliable demographics of how many of them have moved into bigger cities in the western part of the country away from the border, like Ankara and Istanbul, but what is visible is the growing number of Syrians begging on the streets near the parks, in the shopping malls and at traffic lights.

“This is becoming a huge problem. I don’t find it comfortable with these people — speaking a foreign language, and begging whenever I come out of my office,” Betul told Al-Monitor in Ankara. (She, like other first-name-only speakers in this article, asked to use a pseudonym.) “This makes me feel uncomfortable. I know we need to empathize with them by thinking about what is going on in their country, but there is a growing trend of robbery and crimes. They grab bags and run away. We now hear such news quite often.”

There is also a growing number of Syrians on the streets of Cayyolu, a suburban neighborhood in Ankara — begging at the parks, on the corners, or at traffic lights. “They may be safe here, but even a guest should know how long to stay and then find a new place to move. This is not our problem,” Ayhan told Al-Monitor. Turkey has spent about $3.5 billion on Syrian refugees with no end in sight.