Kılıçdaroğlu visits Syrian border, once again vows to deport refugees in two years

While visiting the quake-torn Hatay's Kuşaklı village on the Syrian border, presidential candidate and Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has once again vowed to deport refugees to their homeland should the opposition bloc come to power in the upcoming elections.

Tuesday March 14 2023 08:07 pm

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Main opposition Nation Alliance's presidential candidate and Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on March 14 once again vowed to send Syrian refugees back to their homeland.

“We will send our Syrian brothers and sisters to their homeland within two years. We will also return Afghans to their country of departure, Iran," Kılıçdaroğlu said, while speaking on the Syrian border in the quake-hit Hatay province's Kuşaklı village.

“The country’s border is its honor,” he said. Despite emphasizing that “We have no prejudice against any country, any citizen, or rather any foreigner,” he said: “We want to live freely in our own country. We do not want the demographic structure of our own country to change.”

In May 2022, Kılıçdaroğlu had stated that the opposition has a four-step formulation for the refugee issue should they come to power.

He had listed these steps as follows: (1) starting negotiations with the Syrian state, (2) re-building necessary infrastructure in Syria using European funds, (3) securing the life and property of refugees sent back with the help of the Syrian state and UN, (4) providing incentives to Turkish employers to open businesses in Syria and employ those sent back.