It hosts about 3.7 million of them

Syrian refugees in Turkey under pressure from demands to urge them to return

  • Ahmed Ibrahim came from Aleppo and owns a shop that sells accessories.

    AFP

  • Two Syrian women walk with their children on a street amid tension with the Turks in Şanlıurfa.

    AFP

  • Fatima Ibrahim: The economic crisis affects the Syrians as well as the Turks.

    AFP

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“Samira” continues to hear the same statement day and night from Turkish officials that “Syrians must return to their country,” but her home in the suburbs of Damascus is still unsafe, she says.

The 44-year-old is one of hundreds of thousands of Syrians who have sought refuge in the Turkish province of Şanlıurfa, which shares a long border with Syria.

The conflict in Syria, since its outbreak in 2011, has killed about half a million people, caused massive damage to infrastructure, and led to the displacement of millions of people inside and outside the country.

Turkey was one of the main players in the conflict, and it supported the demands for the departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and opened its borders to refugees.

Turkey hosts about 3.7 million Syrian refugees.

Tensions have arisen over the years, especially in the summer of 2021, between the refugees and the local population, which is facing a severe economic and financial crisis.

The recent wave of economic turmoil, rising inflation, and the devaluation of the Turkish lira have put Syrian refugees under enormous pressure.

Samira confirms that she has not felt similar pressure since she arrived in Turkey in 2019. "I am not thinking of returning to Ghouta," she told AFP from her modest home in Şanlıurfa, which hosts nearly half a million Syrian refugees, equivalent to a quarter of the province's population. Sharqiah, near Damascus, they destroyed our house.”

It's bad there

The refugees fear that their cause will be exploited in the Turkish legislative and presidential elections expected in June 2023, at a time when Erdogan is facing growing popular anger over their hosting in the country.

So scared

The Republican People's Party, the largest opposition party, had promised, if it won the elections, that all Syrians would leave Turkey "within two years." From the "silent invasion" of refugees.

At the beginning of this month, Erdogan announced that he was preparing for the “return of a million” Syrians to their country on a voluntary basis, by financing the creation of shelters and suitable structures to receive them in northwest Syria, with international assistance.

Samira says, refusing to reveal her full name, as she is sitting on a pillow on the ground, "Send the Syrians back to their country, bring the Syrians back to their country... This is what we hear daily from morning until evening on TV screens."

She asks, “Why don't they love us?

We're trying to build a life here, and take care of ourselves.

Politicians are using our cause for election propaganda.”

Despite the pressure of the opposition parties, Erdogan promised that he would never send Syrian refugees to their country by force, saying, “We will not return them to the mouths of killers,” but this does not reassure the refugees.

A few meters from Samira's house, Umm Muhammad stands behind a counter in her shop selling Syrian bread, olives, beans, and other commodities, expressing her inability to understand the reasons for the changing attitude towards refugees.

“We are so scared, we feel so pressured,” she says shyly, adding, “As foreigners, we have to keep our politeness all the time.”

Um Muhammad explains that her husband is a defector from the Syrian regular army, “we absolutely cannot go back, if we go back they will kill us.”

Syria is not an option

Nine years ago, Fatima Ibrahim, 30, married a Syrian refugee after fleeing to Turkey.

She told "AFP" that the economic crisis affects the Syrians as well as the Turks.

Her husband lost his blacksmithing job during the COVID-19 pandemic, and two weeks ago he started working as a farmer in Konya Province, 700 kilometers from where they live.

"Employers pay us low wages, which angers the locals, who blame us for accepting less than they usually earn," says Fatima, sitting on the ground, surrounded by her three children.

“Sometimes we hear from residents that we have lost their jobs, and we have to go back.

Some say to us: Syria is better now, why don't you come back?

You are the reason for the high prices, which is sad for me.”

However, returning is not an option for Fatima, "I will never return, I will stay here or flee to Europe, I do not have a third option."

don't mix

Fatima says that she avoids mixing to avoid problems, while maintaining a minimum level of communication with the residents. “I do not exchange visits with neighbors, we do not mix with each other.”

Haifa, 39, an English teacher, is fluent in Turkish, after nine years in Turkey.

The woman, who hails from Aleppo in northern Syria, says that she does not speak Arabic so as not to attract attention and "to preserve her safety", after being subjected to verbal attacks in the street.

She points out that political issues affect refugees more than economic issues, as some say to them, "Go back to your country, you are enjoying your time here while our soldiers are being killed there."

Since 2016, Ankara, along with Syrian factions loyal to it, has launched three large-scale military operations in northern Syria, mainly against Kurdish fighters, and to expel ISIS from areas bordering Turkey.

The operations allowed it to control a large border area, which includes many major cities.

"Do you think it is easy to leave everything behind?" Haifa says.

Home, memories, everything?

Can't we even visit our father's or our mother's grave?"

The opposition Republican People's Party promised, if it won the elections, that all Syrians would leave Turkey "within two years", while the leader of the far-right Victory Party admitted that it financed a video widely circulated on social media, aimed at intimidating the Turks from a "silent invasion." for refugees.

Tensions have arisen over the years, especially in the summer of 2021, between the refugees and the local population, which is facing a severe economic and financial crisis.

The refugees fear that their cause will be exploited in the Turkish legislative and presidential elections expected in June 2023, at a time when Erdogan is facing growing public anger over their hosting in the country.

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