As it became increasingly clear that Syrians were not imminently leaving Turkey, the Turkish government formalized the Temporary Protection Regulation in 2014. It allowed Syrian nationals access to the Turkish education and health care systems and laid the groundwork for them to pursue employment if they could secure work permits.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday urged all countries to "take their hands off" Syria and said Turkey had the capacity and ability to crush all terrorist organisations in the country, including Kurdish militia and Islamic State.

The overthrow of Bashar al-Assad has led to a face-off between Turkey and Israel in Syria, where both countries have deployed forces. Relations between Turkey and the Jewish state were already strained over the Gaza war,

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday that the new Syrian administration should be given an opportunity to address the presence of Kurdish militants in the country, and reiterated that the Turkish military would act if it did not.

Turkey threatened Tuesday to launch a military operation against Kurdish forces in Syria unless they accepted Ankara's conditions for a "bloodless" transition after the fall of strongman president Bashar al-Assad.

Since a rebellion in Syria last month ousted President Bashar Al-Assad, Turkey-backed Syrian forces have occasionally clashed in the north with US-backed Kurdish forces that Ankara also deems terrorists.