Infrastructure aid won’t help Turkish city maintain welcome for half-million Syrians

  • Date: 08-Oct-2021
  • Source: Al-Monitor
  • Sector:Economy
  • Country:Gulf
  • Who else needs to know?

Infrastructure aid won’t help Turkish city maintain welcome for half-million Syrians

GAZIANTEP — With Turkish and EU flags everywhere and a band playing, Gaziantep Mayor Fatma Sahin, flanked by EU and UN representatives, cut the ribbon of an EU-funded waste management facility earlier this week, providing a rosy picture of cooperation amid tense EU-Turkey ties.

The $10 million Mechanical Biological Treatment and Biogas Facility, one of the largest of its kind in Europe, aims to help the municipality cope with waste, after the city’s population swelled with half a million Syrians — the second-largest Syrian community in Turkey after Istanbul. 

Gaziantep, a historical trade and cultural center located on the border with Syria, traditionally had strong socioeconomic ties with Aleppo. What started in 2011 with 252 people from Aleppo reached 450,000 Syrians under temporary protection within 10 years. The locals of this southeastern metropolis of 2.2 million now point out that one in four people on the streets is Syrian.