A plan by the Turkish Interior Ministry to limit the number of foreigners living in neighborhoods across Turkey has angered rights activists, who lambast the move as a sign of brewing anti-immigrant sentiment as Turkey heads to elections.
Suleyman Soylu, Turkey’s iron-fisted interior minister, told journalists last week that 16 provinces have been closed to new foreign residents, including districts in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir. “If the number of foreigners in a neighborhood exceeds 25%, we will send them to other neighborhoods,” he said, adding that implementation had already started on a voluntary basis. Though Soylu used the generic term for “foreigner,” he was clearly referring to Syrians under temporary protection and other asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa.
