Syrians now make up almost 4 percent of Turkey's population

Nearly four percent of Turkey's population now consists of Syrians, following the influx of refugees since the start of the civil war in the neighboring country in March 2011.  

Over three million Syrians are estimated to be in Turkey, daily Milliyet reported on Sept. 3.

Among the Syrian migrants in Turkey, 1.68 million are male and 1.46 million are female. The Syrian population in Turkey is also overwhelmingly young, with 2.22 million being aged 30 and younger. Some 464,886 are between the ages of 19 and 24. 

The overall three million figure almost corresponds to the total populations of Armenia, Lithuania and Albania. 

The first step of the massive refugee influx into Turkey came on April 29, 2011, when around 400 Syrians entered Turkey through the Cilvegözü Border Gate in the Yayladağı district of the southern border province of Hatay. 

The General Staff, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) and the Foreign Ministry prepared a scenario amid the start of this refugee flow in 2011, with a plan focusing on a possible migration wave from the Syrian provinces of Aleppo and Idlib. 

Within this framework, preparations were made depending on three scenarios, which foresaw the number of refugees rising to either 50,000, 100,000, or 200,000. At the time, Turkey had space for only 60,000 people in refugee camps, but preparations were made with regard to the "worst case scenario," which was foreseen as 200,000 refugees. 

In 2012, the number of Syrian migrants in Turkey was 14,237. However, according to data compiled on Aug. 17, 2017, the number of Syrians biometrically registered in Turkey had reached 3.14 million. 

Syrians can now be found in all of Turkey's 81 provinces. While there...