The provinces that have recently stopped registration of Syrian refugees include Istanbul and nine provinces on the Syrian border. Most Syrian asylum seekers enter Turkey irregularly through the few remaining gaps in the border wall in the Hatay province. Because of suspended registration, they live in illegality or use smugglers to reach other parts of Turkey, risking arrest and deportation.  HRW says that the EU is silent on the issue.

"While the EU supports Turkey to deter asylum seekers from reaching Europe, it’s turning a blind eye to Turkey’s latest steps to block and discourage people fleeing Syria," Gerry Simpson, associate refugee program director at Human Rights Watch said. "But forcing Syrians who manage to get past Turkey’s border guards to live in legal limbo only risks driving them underground and onward to the EU."

Registration permit

The most common form of registration for asylum seekers in Turkey is called a temporary protection permit. This permit, HRW says, entitles these asylum seekers to get "health care and education, to work, and to seek social assistance, including the EU-funded Emergency Social Safety Net for the most vulnerable Syrians." If they do not have a permit they can be eligible for deportation; schools or hospitals might not take them in. HRW reported that some Syrians didn't have a permit and thus had to return to Syria to receive urgent medical care.

Syrian refugees and refugee aid groups in Hatay's capital, Antakya, claim that the Turkish police are engaging in mass arrests after their registration was suspended. 

In 2015, Turkey sealed its border with Syria. Mass summary pushbacks at the border have become a common practice, as HRW reported in March.