Report

Syrian refugees scapegoats for Turkish elections

Welcomed with open arms by Turkey at the beginning of the war, Syrians found themselves at the centre of the political bidding war in these elections, against a backdrop of heightened nationalism and rising anti-migrant sentiment.

"Syrians will leave," reads new posters of opposition candidate Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, which appeared between the two rounds. © RFI/Aurore Lartigue

Text by: Aurore Lartigue Follow

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From our special envoy in Istanbul,

In the streets of Ikitelli, signs in Arabic are discreet, despite the large Syrian community that lives in this working-class suburb on the European side of Istanbul. In recent years, the government has limited the presence of the Arabic language on storefronts to 25%. In his hair salon, Abdullah finishes trimming a beard, but the atmosphere is calmer than usual. The electoral escalation around the return of Syrians weighs on the atmosphere.

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All this has an impact on business, says the father of a family who arrived from Syria in 2014. I think I've had 40 to 50 percent fewer customers these days." In the neighborhood, where the majority voted for incumbent president in the first round, time stands still, Abdulla said. "Traders no longer buy goods. We are waiting for the results of the elections, everyone is talking about that. I'm very stressed because we don't know what's going to happen, we see these posters everywhere saying they're going to send us back. Customers tell me that people tell them: we will send you home! There is a certain excitement in our community. It's as if we were going to have to pack our bags and go to Syria.

« The Syrians will leave! »

Between the two rounds, the two presidential candidates hardened their tone on refugees to try to recover the 5.2% of the vote of Sinan Ogan, the dissident of the far-right party Nationalist Action Party (MHP) who came third in the first round.

Throughout the streets of Istanbul, new posters of opposition candidate Kemal Kiliçdaroglu appeared, announcing in capital letters: "Syrians will leave!" and "We will protect our borders!" This will further increase the pressure on the estimated 3.3 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey under the status of temporary refugees, according to figures given these days by the government. To this number must be added those who have obtained Turkish citizenship – 230,000 people – as well as undocumented migrants whose estimates vary.

More than a campaign theme, the issue of migrants has become over the course of the campaign the lowest common denominator between the political parties. "I will send all the refugees home as soon as I come to power," promised Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kiliçdaroglu the day after the first round, making a particularly offensive speech: "If they stay, more than 10 million more refugees will arrive in Turkey. Do you realize? If they stay, the dollar will be worth 30 Turkish liras, a loaf of bread will cost 10 pounds, misery will worsen, these illegals, these refugees will turn into machines to commit crimes, looting will begin... Do you realize? If they stay, our cities will come under the control of refugees, mafia clans, and drug lords. Do you realize? If they stay, femicide will increase and young girls will no longer be able to walk the streets alone.

For his part, with more humanitarian rhetoric, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on May 25 that he was working on a housing construction project in northern Syria that should allow the "voluntary" return and "in respect of human rights" of one million Syrian refugees.

While waiting for the verdict of the ballot box and faced with a Turkish public opinion heated by increasingly aggressive speeches, the Syrian community has no choice but to keep a low profile, says Taha Elghazi, a Syrian activist and co-founder of the Platform for Refugee Rights. "Since May 14 [first round of the presidential election], there has been an atmosphere of fear in society because in the streets, in parks, on the walls of schools are posted these fascist posters that target us. Families tell me that they no longer send their children to school for fear that they will be subjected to reflections from their Turkish classmates. In some neighborhoods, he said, workers are reluctant to go to work because they are afraid of being attacked by extremist groups on their way home.

Failover

Yet Syrians have not always been persona non grata in Turkey. At the beginning of the war, in 2011, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened wide the doors to his "brothers", welcoming Syrians fleeing the fighting as "guests". In 2016, the Turkish government even signed a migration agreement with Europe in which it pledged to receive all illegal migrants from its territory and arrested in Greece. In return, Brussels had pledged to finance to the tune of 6 billion euros the reception and support of refugees on Turkish soil.

But the war lasted, the Syrians continued to arrive and above all they stayed. "There has been a shift in all opinion and all political parties on this issue around 2019-2020," said Jean-François Pérouse, a lecturer and researcher in Istanbul and former director of the French Institute of Anatolian Studies. We have heard leading figures in power and the AKP say the need for a return of Syrian refugees, in total break with the very generous, inclusive discourse that was previously held by the ruling party. After 2019, speech has become a little free, and what was a bit of a taboo, except in factions a little extreme, has become commonplace in public opinion.

He points to a "double amalgam" of which the Syrians would be victims: on the one hand assimilated to the illegals, they are also the victims of the rise in Turkey of an anti-Arab sentiment, linked to an increasingly visible presence of tourists, investors, rather from the Gulf countries.

Above all, the exceptional economic and monetary crisis that Turkey is experiencing has gone through this, sometimes making cohabitation unsustainable. In Istanbul or Ankara, this growing hostility has even led to riots or lynchings. In August 2021, in the Altindag district of the Turkish capital, the death of a young Turk stabbed by a migrant presented as Syrian led to attacks on refugees' homes and businesses.

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Hate speech has always existed, but not so strongly, says Seba Abdullatif, who arrived in 2011 and is a member of the NGO Syria Forum. After the pandemic and with the economic crisis, this discourse has strengthened. Society tried to look for someone responsible for its problems, to find a scapegoat. And they chose those who were the weakest. Today, according to recent studies, more than 85% of the Turkish population wants Syrians to return to their country.

Accused of all evils

This feeling of "ordinary racism", Adnan, who lives in a working-class neighborhood with a large immigrant population, wanted to explain it to us. For this waiter in a nice café in the tourist center of Istanbul, refugees are responsible for many ills of today's Turkish society: their presence has exploded the price of rents; It has also had an impact on his children's schooling, with Arabic speakers lowering the level. Adnan also has the impression that these populations live better than the Turks, are better off.

Last but not least, he fears for his family's safety. "When I go to work, my wife and children remain unprotected. Who knows if we won't come and harass or assault them? He has never encountered a problem but this feeling of insecurity is fed by the videos that abound on social networks. "I want the government to send criminals back, but obviously to protect the women and children who have taken refuge here to flee the war," he said. But he is sure: if the refugees return, his life will improve: "they cost a lot to our state that helps them while it is the crisis." In reality, the rights of Syrian refugees are limited to access to free education and healthcare.

Fantasies often maintained by the political speeches themselves. Some, such as the CHP mayor of Antakya, Lütfü Savas, do not hesitate to wave the threat of a "great replacement" Turkish version. "If this continues like this, the Turks will become a minority," he said last year, claiming that "three out of four new people" in the region are Syrian children.

Even if it is true that the arrival of Syrians has created strong competition in the labor market, says Jean-François Pérouse. "The arrival of an abundant workforce has lowered wages in the agricultural and industrial sector and in Istanbul's textile workshops. The entrepreneurial milieu, closely linked to the AKP, used and even exploited this Syrian workforce, reputed to be docile and reputed to accept inferior working conditions.

The shadow of the return to Syria

Today, both sides have made the return of Syrians the main issue of these elections. "We can imagine staging with deportations just after the elections to relieve public opinion," worries Solène Poyraz, a doctoral student in political studies at the EHESS, who worked on political speeches as part of her thesis. And in this case, it will not necessarily be the Syrians who will pay the price, but migrants who are not necessarily registered, who therefore have no rights and who are more invisible, such as Afghans or Pakistanis.

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The return policy has already started " says Syrian activist Taha Elghazi. Ankara has begun negotiations with the regime of Bashar al-Assad. A 2022 Human Rights Watch report found that Turkish authorities arbitrarily arrested and returned hundreds of Syrian refugees to Syria between February and July of that year. The activist also castigates the responsibility of the European Union which, through bargaining, has put economic and social pressure on Turkey.

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This question of return scares me a lot, says Abdulla, Ikitelli's hairdresser. Kiliçdaroglu says he will send us back there, but that would send us to death! He doesn't care what might happen to us. Here I am a guest, I only try to lead a quiet life with my wife and children. I did not come to disturb people. If the conditions were good, I would like to return to my country of course," he said.

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I'm afraid of what will happen to my family, my job, my income," says Seba Abdullatif. But above all I am afraid thinking about what will happen to us if we return to Syria, because here I evolve in an environment of opponents. And if we go back to Syria, we will surely pay for it. Does she plan to go elsewhere, further west? The young woman lets glimpse a resigned smile: "But who will accept us? If we are kicked out of here, we will have nowhere to go.

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• Turkey
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