Turkey has extended until October 30 the deadline for unregistered Syrian refugees in Istanbul to leave the city to other parts of Turkey, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said.
In a statement to foreign journalists on Wednesday, Suilo said those leaving Istanbul would be allowed to re-register in any other Turkish state except the southern coastal state of Antalya, which he said would not receive more Syrian refugees.
He said students and their families, as well as those with officially registered jobs in Istanbul, would be exempted from redistribution to other Turkish states.
The Turkish minister stressed that it is not possible to deport the Syrians outside Turkey except voluntarily, and pointed out that the measures being implemented in the city of Istanbul will also include Ankara and Bursa.
He explained that Turkey has identified places outside its borders to receive a wave of possible migration from the Syrian province of Idlib, which is under wide attack by the Syrian regime forces.
The Turkish authorities have set a deadline expired yesterday for Syrian refugees in Istanbul, who are originally registered in other states, to settle their situation.
According to Turkish official data, there are about half a million Syrians in Istanbul, many of whom are registered as refugees in other Turkish states.
After the Turkish opposition's victory in late June in the Greater Istanbul municipality, calls on some Turkish Turks to deport the Syrians from Istanbul were echoed by social media.
In July, some so-called Turkish nationalists demonstrated against Syrian refugees, and demonstrations of solidarity with the estimated 3.6 million refugees in Turkey.
During the deadline set by the Turkish authorities, there were reports of hundreds of Syrian refugees being deported from Istanbul to other Turkish states if they had temporary protection documents (named as Turkish property) and towards Syrian territory if they did not.