Syrian refugees and the power struggle in Turkiye

Written by: Jamil Al Salem | Recife website

The moment the Syrians came to Turkey was characterized by major changes that the country witnessed. The political conflict between the secular trend, especially the Republican People’s Party (CHP), and the conservative Islamic movement, represented by the Justice and Development Party (AKP), was escalating.

 The AKP implemented a series of measures that abolished restrictions on headscarves in government departments and universities, and expanded Turkey’s economic and political relations with the Arab world. The secular Turkish opposition saw in these measures a trend towards Islamization, and viewed the Syrian refugees as a group of conservative Sunni Muslims who threaten the secularism of the Turkish state, and as Arabs who threaten the Turkish identity.

The Republican People’s Party began to incite against the Syrians since their arrival, and this position was shared by more extremist nationalist groups, especially the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), from which the most extremist wing towards the Syrians defected in 2017, and formed the Iyi party.

 As for the HDP, one of the political representatives of the Turkish Kurds, although its political program advocates the rights of Syrian refugees, a significant number of its supporters participate in incitement against the Syrians, because they consider the Sunni Arab Syrians to be loyal to ISIS and the Islamic factions that attacked the Kurdish areas in Syria. And because they believe that the Syrians have obtained more rights than the Kurds, who are deprived of their cultural rights in Turkey.

The Turkish opposition media focused on presenting a negative image of the Syrians, whether by conveying news that offends them or by fabricating it, as the Syrians appear in this media as poor, beggars, uncivilized and threatening Turkish values.

As for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), its position was based on a religious vision that says that the Syrians are brothers in religion, and that they are immigrants and the Turks are the supporters, just as this vision was not without an imperial and nationalistic soul that sees the Syrians as subjects of the Ottoman Empire. The Justice and Development Party tried to take advantage of the Syrian refugees to obtain financial aid from the European Union, and to obtain gains, such as the ease of movement of Turkish workers to the European Union countries, in addition to using them as political pressure cards.

 The role of the media in building hate speech

The Turkish opposition media focused on presenting a negative image of the Syrians, whether by conveying news that offends them or by fabricating it, as Syrians appear in this media as poor, beggars, uncivilized and threatening Turkish values.

Young Syrians are also presented as unemployed, faceless in the streets, harassers smoking “shisha” everywhere. In a strange contrast, the opposition media at the same time presents them as cheap workers, causing unemployment for the Turks and benefiting from state aid that provides them with monthly salaries and pays their electricity and water bills (which is untrue), not to mention the security danger they pose. Announced by the opposition media include terrorist cells.

Racist attacks against Syrian refugees are rising steadily, and they are faced with a frank outbreak of the Turkish opposition, with European silence permeated from time to time.

In the current crisis, the opposition parties blamed the Syrian refugees, as they are the ones who steal job opportunities and receive financial aid from the Turkish government.

In light of the combination of all these previous factors, the Syrians have been demonized, and according to the results of a study carried out for the UNHCR last year, “almost half of the Turks believe that the Syrians pose a future danger to Turkish society, and that they did not defend their homeland. 30% of them say that the Syrians do not care about their personal hygiene, are rude and lazy, and people take advantage of the generosity of their Turkish host.