A young Syrian man was killed in Turkey on Monday morning, and activists reported that the young man, “Sharif Khaled Al-Ahmad,” from the town of “Hafsarja” in the western countryside of Idlib, was killed while chasing thieves who tried to enter the house he lived in in the “Esnler” area of Istanbul. Activists broadcast a video clip showing the young man lying on the ground with blood on his face and body, while a number of young men appeared to be trying to rescue him.
A source, who preferred not to be mentioned by Turkish media, said that the dead young man was working as a tailor and lived with his 16-year-old brother and a group of Syrian youths in a shared youth housing. At five in the morning, a group of young men stormed the youth housing and tried to break windows and doors amid racist screams and insults.
“Headshot”
The source added that the six assailants left the place after that, but three of them returned at around six in the morning and they were carrying firearms.
When the young men tried to confront them again, one of them shot the young man’s left foot, causing him to fall to the ground, and then on his head, killing him in the middle of the street. The police, which opened an investigation into the incident, and the victim was transferred to the forensic mortuary in a hospital in Istanbul. In a similar incident, young Turkish men in the city of Antakya in the state of Hatay, southern Turkey, killed the 25-year-old Syrian refugee “Samer Masas,” who was from The city of Aleppo, and he was the only breadwinner for his family.
Increased racism against refugees
Racism against Syrian refugees has intensified, reaching the point of killing and attacks in recent times.
This racism fueled the positions of some Turkish politicians and public figures who adopted a hostile rhetoric, for the sake of the parliamentary and municipal elections in order to win votes.
