Syrian investors pumped approximately 58.7 million Turkish liras (about $7 million) into 124 companies during the first quarter of this year, according to statistics published May 1 by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey.
While this was only a fraction of the more than 3,200 foreign companies established in Turkey in cooperation with local Turkish partners in the first quarter, it still shows the value of Syrian investment in the country.
The large number of Syrian refugees in Turkey it was estimated at 3.6 million last year has helped lead to a 5% overall increase in the number of companies registered in Turkey.
As of December 2019, the number of Syrian-owned companies in Turkey was about 13,880, accounting for 29% of the foreign-owned companies in the country, with a capital of about 4 billion Turkish liras ($480 million), the Turkish trade minister said in January 2020. Most of these companies are active in construction, wholesale trade
April 30, 2021
Berke Guney Boz is in his last year of high school at a private school in Eskisehir in northwest Turkey. Although he still has many years of education in Turkey ahead of him, he has already made plans for his post-university life. “I want to study computer engineering at a top university, then use the opportunity to study abroad for a few more years, before getting a job in a foreign country,” Boz said.
“I don’t see any situation where I would want to stay [in Turkey],” he added.
Boz feels left behind by his country’s economic and educational policies, and he isn’t alone - thousands of young people in Turkey want to leave the country, where the economic situation has gone from bad to worse over the past year.
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To protect its citizens against COVID-19, Turkey must also protect Syrian refugees
It is blindingly obvious that the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 does not discriminate between Turks and Syrians. Representational image | Photo Credit: iStock Images
The COVID-19 pandemic is, of course, creating monumental problems across the world. But Turkey has an additional challenge: It is host to the largest contingent of refugees anywhere on the globe today. According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, there are 4.3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, adding to the nation’s burden of providing wellbeing and healthcare for all. How Turkey manages to protect the millions of refugees in the country will have a direct and profound impact on how well it serves its own people. Right now, the case doesn’t look good.