Turkey’s president accuses opposition of stoking racism after anti-Syrian rioting erupts
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused opposition parties of stoking xenophobia and racism on Monday, a day after residents in a neighborhood in central Turkey set Syrian-owned shops on fire.
The rioting erupted in the Melikgazi region of central Kayseri province late Sunday following allegations that a Syrian refugee there had sexually harassed a 7-year-old Syrian girl. Outraged residents overturned cars and set shops ablaze, calling on Syrians to leave.
At least 67 people suspected of involvement in the violence were detained, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on the social media platform X.
In a televised address on Monday, Erdogan accused opposition parties, which have advocated for the repatriation of refugees, of inciting violence.
“Nothing can be achieved by fueling xenophobia and hatred of refugees in society,” Erdogan said. “One of the reasons for the tragic event that was caused by a small group in Kayseri yesterday is the poisonous discourse of the opposition.”
When neighboring Syria’s civil war broke out in 2011, Turkey received Syrian refugees with compassion, becoming the country to host the largest refugee population globally. As the population grew and Turkey encountered escalating economic difficulties, it has seen a rise in anti-migrant sentiment.
Since last week’s earthquake, refugees of Syria’s civil war living in Turkey have faced growing anger from those who see them as a burden and blight.
Turkey is home to 3.6 million refugees, according to government figures, though some argue the real population may be significantly larger.
Officials said the alleged abuser in the Melikgazi region was arrested while the girl, her siblings and mother were placed under state protection through which they would receive psychological support.
The violence against Syrians in Kayseri drew a backlash — in some cases violent — in opposition-held areas of northwestern Syria, including those controlled by Turkish-backed forces.
In Syria’s Aleppo province, near the border with Turkey, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that dozens of people gathered at the main roundabout in the town of Al-Rai to “prevent the entry of Turkish convoys and trucks” and prevented Turkish trucks from entering the city of Al-Bab.
Videos circulated on social media showed young men and boys carrying rocks and sticks chasing after a truck bearing Turkish writing. Demonstrators also chased employees out of a Turkish post office branch in the Syrian city of Azaz, the observatory said.
In some areas of Syria, protesters clashed with local security forces.
The election battle between Turkey’s president and his main challenger is increasingly focused on one issue: Syrian refugees in their country.
The Syrian National Army, a coalition of armed Syrian opposition groups backed by Turkey, in a statement called on residents of northwestern Syria to “avoid being drawn in by seditionists who seek to sabotage our institutions.”
The outbursts came amid rising tensions in Syrian opposition-held areas over apparent moves toward a rapprochement between Ankara and the government of Bashar Assad in Damascus, including plans to open a crossing between government-held areas and those held by Turkish-backed opposition forces in Aleppo province.
The Idlib-based “salvation government” of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — a formerly Al Qaeda-linked insurgent group that controls other parts of northwestern Syria — issued a statement calling on Turkey to “assume its legal and moral responsibilities to protect Syrian refugees.”
In 2021, similar anti-Syrian riots broke out in an Ankara neighborhood after a Turkish teenager was stabbed to death in a fight with a group of young Syrians. Hundreds of people chanting anti-immigrant slogans took to the streets, vandalized Syrian-run shops and hurled rocks at refugees’ homes.
Fraser writes for the Associated Press. Ghaith Alsayed in Idlib, Syria, contributed to this report.
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