Syrians must produce regime issued passports to travel through border with Turkiye

Security and Safety Procedures at Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing with Turkey, where travelers undergo inspection and baggage screening before entering Turkish territory on July 26, 2023 [Rami Alsayed/NurPhoto via Getty Images]

In a sign of increased coordination and rapprochement between Turkiye and the Syrian regime, the Bab Al-Hawa border crossing between the two countries has begun demanding Syrian expats carry a valid passport issued from the authorities in Damascus.

A statement issued by the border agency said the Turkish authorities will not allow Syrian citizens who hold residency or citizenship of a foreign country from crossing into Syria without a valid passport issued by the Syrian regime.

“Our honourable expatriates in various countries of the world except Turkiye and those wishing to visit their country through the Bab Al-Hawa crossing, who hold a residency card or a foreign passport, we inform you that you must have a Syrian passport valid for a period of no less than two months in order for the Turkish side to allow you to cross from Turkiye to Syria and then return to Turkiye later after obtaining transit approval,” the border authorities said in a statement.

Bassam Al-Sulaiman, a researcher at the Jusoor Centre for Studies, said the decision will negatively affect the ability of Syrians naturalised with nationalities other than Turkish to visit their relatives in northern Syria, and will impose heavy financial burdens on them to renew their passports or issue passports for their children adding this money will go into the Syrian regime’s treasury.

“The decision is Turkish, and the Bab Al-Hawa crossing on the Syrian side does not have any conditions or financial costs for the entry of expatriates” he added.

The move comes ahead of a Russian-Turkish-Syrian-Iranian meeting expected at the end of September.

Ties between Turkiye and Syria were severed in March 2012, due to the Syrian civil war. However there have been increased reports that reconciliation efforts are in progress with a meeting expected between Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkiye and Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad in the coming year.

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