Turkey granted over 87,000 work permits to foreign nationals in 2017, according to data from the country's Labor and Social Security Ministry compiled by Anadolu Agency.
Overall the ministry received almost 100,000 work permit applications last year and approved almost 87 percent of them, according to the data.
The data shows that Syrian citizens accounted for 24 percent of all work permits given to foreigners, making them the largest single group. Thus, nearly 21,000 Syrians started working in Turkey last year.
They were followed by Georgians with 7,317 permits, Kyrghyzstanis with 6,360, Ukrainians with 5,761, and Chinese with 4,288.
In 2016, the ministry granted 73,584 work permits to foreigners.
