Ten Syrian families from the Kutina-based reception centre for asylum seekers will be given flats in the central Croatian city of Karlovac to use for a period of two years, and the Jesuit Refugee Service will be helping them with integration so that they can start providing for themselves later, state agency Hina learned on Monday from the Jesuit Refugee Service.

The Syrian families are to arrive in Karlovac by the end of November.

A total of 250 Syrian refugees have arrived in Croatia from Turkey as part of a programme for the relocation of refugees.

The first group of refugees – ten families – were moved in June from the Kutina reception centre to Sisak and now 48 Syrian nationals, including 24 minors, will move to Karlovac.

Father Tvrtko Barun, who heads the Jesuit Refugee Service for Southeast Europe, called on Karlovac residents to welcome the refugees and show openness and cooperation, recalling that all 48 Syrians have refugee status and that they have arrived in Croatia based on a government decision.

As a humanitarian organisation, the Jesuit Refugee Service has been a partner to the Ministry of the Interior and the government and has been in charge of integration activities as it has been helping refugees and displaced persons for 25 years, Barun said.

After they arrive in Karlovac, as other asylum seekers the refugees will continue with intensive Croatian language courses and undergo the integration process and preparations for employment so that they could become independent and equal citizens as soon as possible.

Minister of the Interior Davor Bozinovic and Barun last December signed a project for the integration of persons under international protection for 20 families relocated from Turkey.

The first ten families are already undergoing the process of integration in Sisak and ten more are still at the reception centre for asylum seekers in Kutina and will soon move to state-owned flats in Karlovac, which have been equipped with the help of money from EU funds.