The forgotten Turks asked President Erdoğan for help.

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Turks who were forced to migrate from Syria in 1940 and were stripped of their citizenship during the Kenan Evren period in 1980 want to become citizens of the Republic of Turkey again.

About 150-200 Turkish citizens living in the Hassa and Kırıkhan districts of Hatay in 1940 migrated to the capital of Syria, Damascus, due to religious pressures during the İsmet İnönü period. Some of the Turks who started living in a neighborhood here became citizens of both Syria and Turkey. However, with Kenan Evren's takeover in 1980, Turks living in Syria were stripped of their citizenship. Even within the same family, one person remained a Turkish citizen while another became a Syrian citizen.

HOPEFUL FOR THE NEW ERA

Currently, Turks living in the Turkish neighborhood in Syria, where 400 households reside, are hopeful for the new era. The Turkish residents of the neighborhood have asked for help from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to become citizens of the Republic of Turkey again. Abdurrahman Süleyman, one of the neighborhood residents, stated, "We are all relatives with everyone here. We all come from the Hassa district of Hatay. 90% of the people here do not have Turkish identity. My father came here in 1940. He migrated here because he could not practice his religion in Turkey. My place of birth is Syria. We want an identity. They should recognize us as Turks. No one has looked after us. We are hopeful for the new system. We ask for support from Mr. Erdoğan. We all want to be citizens of Turkey."

THEY WANT TO SERVE IN THE MILITARY IN TURKEY

Another neighborhood resident, who claims to have been born in Hatay in 1935, said, "We cannot give up our homeland." Mahmut Muduk, a neighborhood resident who stated that his grandfather migrated to Syria, said, "They received identity here and we stayed. All of us actually have citizenship in Turkey, but when Kenan Evren came to power, he invalidated all of them in 1980. If we can, we want to become citizens of the Republic of Turkey. Because I have grandchildren there. I have four grandchildren. The reason this nation could not go there (to Turkey) and serve in the military is due to the loss of citizenship during the Kenan Evren period," he said.

"MY BROTHER IS TURKISH, I AM SYRIAN"

Abdurrahman Yakup stated that his brother is a citizen of the Republic of Turkey, but he himself is a Syrian citizen, saying, "Our origin is Hatay. My father came to Aleppo in 1939 and then came here (to Damascus). We had our records, but they were closed. They could not go to the military there, they stayed here. Those who stayed here became Syrians, while my uncle and cousin became Turks. We became Syrians, they became Turks. My mother and father are Turkish, I am Syrian. My brother is Turkish, I am Syrian. My uncle's son is Turkish, I am Syrian. What can we do, how can we not want citizenship?"