Official figures show Syrian refugees in Turkey close to 2 million

There are 1,972,065 Syrian refugees in Turkey who are officially registered by the Directorate General for Migration Management as of Sep. 2, Migration Management General Director Atilla Toros told the Ankara bureau chiefs of major news outlets on Wednesday. Giving detailed information about the work being carried out by their institution, Toros said that even though the directorate was established in April 2013, they managed to complete the setup of field organizations in 81 provinces and implemented policies and strategies related to migration across Turkey.

"In order to get benefit from the healthcare and education systems and other facilities they need to complete registration. Therefore, I can say that we almost completed the registration process of refugees," Toros said. He said that as of Sept. 2 there are a total of 1,972,065 Syrian refugees registered and that 259,151 of them live in the refugee camps, while 1,712,914 live elsewhere. According to directorate statistics, so far about 150,000 Syrians have returned to their country, Toros added. Regarding regional distribution, Toros said that the province of Şanlıurfa has the most Syrian refugees followed by the other border provinces.

Providing the most recent figures for the number of foreign fighters trying to enter Turkey, Toros said: "19,626 individuals from 112 countries have been banned from entering the country." Toros said that until this day, 2,122 individuals from 85 countries have been deported from Turkey for security reasons. Underlining that other countries defined as a "source country", must cooperate further, Toros also said that those countries are not providing enough information. "The source countries are not only providing insufficient information, but also providing delayed information. There are incidents where those countries provide information after the individual lands in Turkey," Toros said.