How False Information Sparked Chaos and Violence between Turks and Syrians

During the Syrian presence, Turkiye experienced several crises related to the asylum issue, as refugees were subjected on many occasions to various attacks that coincided with general or local elections.

However, the events that Kayseri witnessed on the evening of June 30, 2024, were the most violent and exceptional because they extended to different geographical regions within Turkiye, with their effects reaching northern Syria, which is controlled by the Syrian military opposition factions supported by Ankara.

While some Turkish politicians' voices increased to put an end to the Syrian refugee problem, considering them a threat to the country's national security, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held the opposition responsible for the events in Kayseri, and Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya stressed that the government could not allow incitement and xenophobic actions.

In the same context, observers said that these events are a continuation of what Syrian refugees in Turkiye have been exposed to for years, but they pointed out that it came as Ankara and Damascus were trying to turn the page on the dispute, in light of Erdogan’s recent statements about the possibility of holding a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Turkiye hosts 3.2 million Syrian refugees who fled after the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in March 2011 to escape repression and bombing of their cities and villages.

This is not the first time that rumors have caused Turkish citizens to attack commercial interests belonging to Syrian refugees, as this has previously happened in more than one Turkish state.

In August 2021, groups of Turks targeted Syrian shops and homes in the capital, Ankara.

Racist Attacks

The Syrians in the Turkish city of Kayseri lived through a terrifying night after riots broke out and a series of attacks, destruction and mass burning targeted their property, in the largest racist mass attack against Syrian refugees in the country, after the spread of false news related to a Syrian young man had harassed a Turkish girl.

Subsequently, groups of anti-Syrian Turks attacked Syrian refugees, burned their property, and destroyed their cars in the streets, raising slogans demanding the deportation of the Syrians to their country.

It later became clear that the child was not of Turkish nationality, but rather of Syrian nationality, according to reports. However, the violence against Syrians in the city did not stop.

According to reports, the young man accused of harassment suffers from a mental disorder, and is a relative and neighbor of the girl, and the incident occurred in a public bathroom in one of the city’s markets.

Turkish media said that the violence spread to the states of Hatay, Gaziantep, Antalya, Konya, Bursa, and Istanbul, while reports revealed deaths and injuries among Syrians.

Syrian human rights activists reported that a group of about anti-Syrian 40 Turkish citizens stormed an apartment inhabited by Syrian workers in Antalya, and assaulted them by beating and stabbing them with knives, which led to the killing of a Syrian boy (17 years old) and the injury of 8 others.

According to Turkish newspapers, the Turkish police arrested 3 people suspected of the incident, who had criminal records.

Inflammatory Statements

Recent events also sparked a torrent of racist statements against the Syrian presence in Turkiye, as political parties exploited the incident to mobilize against President Erdogan’s pro-refugee policies, calling for the deportation of all refugees to their country — a practice that led to justifications for acts of violence against Syrians and refugees in general.

Ismail Ozdemir, deputy leader of the Turkish National Movement Party, said: “We expect that a dignified return of our Syrian guests to their country will be secured as soon as possible, for the safety and security of Turkiye.”

In turn, the representative of the Republican People's Party (CHP) in Kayseri, Askin Genc, said: “The growing migrant crisis day by day is the result of the government's indifferent and solutionless policies. It is time for action, not words.”

Former Turkish presidential candidate Sinan Ogan also said that the incident showed once again that similar events can happen at any time in our country where there are many refugees.

He pointed out that “the repatriation of nearly 900,000 refugees since the last presidential elections is important but not sufficient.”

While writer and political analyst Fatih Tezcan said: “All Syrian shops in Kayseri are being burned. The reason is that a Syrian man had harassed a Syrian girl. If a Turkish person committed this disgrace, would all Turkish shops be burned?”

On his part, Turkish President Erdogan condemned the recent wave of violence against Syrian refugees in Turkiye, stressing that hate speech should not be used for political gain.

“Regardless of their identities, setting fires in the streets and in residents’ homes is unacceptable,” Erdogan stated.

MP Sevda Karaca also harshly criticized CHP’s representatives for their statements, which she described as populist and inflammatory.

It is noteworthy that the issue of the Syrian presence in Turkiye came to the fore two weeks ago, when 41 civil society organizations in the state of Gaziantep launched an unprecedented joint statement warning of the state sinking under the weight of the influx of Syrian refugees.

As a result, the Turkish Immigration Department launched a massive inspection campaign in the city, which resulted in the detention of hundreds of Syrians on charges of violating the laws.

Subsequently, CHP leader Ozgur Ozal revealed his willingness to meet with the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad, to discuss the mechanism for returning Syrian refugees in Turkiye to their country.

After the opposition's statements, Erdogan said on June 28: “There is no reason not to establish diplomatic relations. We will continue to develop relations as we have done in the past. We have no goal or intention to interfere in the internal affairs of Syria, because the Syrian people are a brotherly community.”

Serious Repercussions

The bloody violence that Syrian refugees were subjected to in the Turkish city of Kayseri cast a shadow over the areas of northwestern Syria under the control of the Syrian opposition and the Turkish army.

In a reaction to the anti-Syrian riots in Turkiye, Protesters in northwestern Syria blocked the path of Turkish trucks and demanded that their drivers return to their country. They also broke the windows of some buses, lowered Turkish flags, and called for the closure of official Turkish offices in the region.

Five Syrian demonstrators were killed, and others were injured by the Turkish forces on July 1, forcing Turkiye to close all its border crossings until the situation calmed down.

The Syrian National Army, supported by Turkiye, called on Syrians in the liberated areas to avoid being drawn in by instigators who seek to sabotage public institutions, noting that they belong to the Syrians themselves.

On July 2, the Turkish police announced that they had arrested 474 people after provocative actions carried out against Syrians in Turkiye, adding that 285 of them had records of various crimes.

Hasan Mert Cakmak, a member of the IYI Party, who organized the attacks against Syrians, was arrested and sent to prison on the grounds of inciting the public to hatred crimes.

Batuhan Colak, a racist editor-in-chief of the website Aykırı, was detained for the crime of spreading misleading information to the public using the harassment incident in Kayseri as an excuse.

In turn, political analyst Mahmoud Alloush pointed out in a statement to Al-Estiklal that “there are three results of the racist attacks that Syrians were subjected to in the Turkish state of Kayseri and its repercussions that reached northern Syria.”

“The first is that hate speech against Syrians in Turkiye is increasingly expressing itself through violence and in an organized way,” he said.

“The second is that the phenomenon of racism could spark a serious clash between Turkish society and the Syrian refugee community if the Turkish government does not show extreme resolve in suppressing hate speech,” Mr. Alloush added.

“The third is that the spontaneous reactions in northern Syria could slide into a situation in a moment of anger that brings many risks to the relation between Turkiye and the Syrian opposition,” he explained.

Mr. Alloush concluded that “the most dangerous goals of the hate speech project against the Syrians in Turkiye are to cause a societal clash with them on a large scale, and to undermine one of the Turkish cards of power in its foreign policy.”