Turkey hosts some 3.6 million registered Syrian refugees along with close to 330,000 refugees and asylum seekers of other nationalities. Following the onset of the Syria crisis and the influx of Syrian refugees into Turkey, camps, or temporary accommodation centres were established to host the Syrian refugees. Now, in 2020, over 98 per cent of refugees live across Turkey in 81 provinces, while less than two per cent are hosted in the Temporary Accommodation Centers operated by the Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM).
As of 2018, the Government of Turkey has gradually been consolidating or closing a number of Temporary Accommodation Centers. In line with its global Alternatives to Camps policy, UNHCR supports the Turkish authorities in this respect, in response to requests from DGMM. UNHCR’s specific interventions include supporting the relocation of refugees through the provision of a one-off cash-based intervention for those leaving the Temporary Accommodation Centers to live in host communities in order to facilitate their settling in the host community.