Turkey’s government has called for calm after violence against Syrian refugees erupted in the central Melikgazi district and extended to neighboring areas, as authorities arrested over 470 individuals attacking Syrian shops and cars, Al Jazeera reported.
Riots broke out when Turkish officials detained a Syrian man for allegedly sexually assaulting a seven-year-old Syrian child in the central city of Kayseri.
Infuriated by internet accounts of the murder, Turkish locals overturned vehicles in Kayseri and set fire to Syrian-run businesses on Sunday night, demanding that Syrians be expelled from the country.
Protesters set fire to a Syrian grocery store in Hatay, Turkey’s southern region.
Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya asserted that the disturbances “damaged houses, workplaces, and vehicles belonging to Syrian nationals,” accusing those responsible of behaving “illegally and in a way that does not suit our human values.”
In a post on X on Tuesday, Yerlikaya stated that “474 people were detained after the provocative actions” taken against Syrians.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced the violence, which he accused opposition parties of inciting.
“It is unacceptable to burn houses, vandalize, and set streets on fire,” he stated on Monday. “Nothing can be achieved by fueling xenophobia and hatred of refugees in society.”
More than 3.5 million Syrians live in Turkey, the largest number in the region. Turkey began accepting Syrian refugees when the civil war broke out in Syria in 2011.
Most Syrians are under “temporary protection” status, and many have become Turkish citizens. However, anti-refugee sentiment in Turkey has been building for several years, notably toward Syrians, as a result of a serious economic crisis marked by surging inflation.
“This is not the first time that xenophobic protests targeting Syrians have occurred in the last three years,” Al Jazeera’s Sinem Köseoğlu reported. In 2021, anti-Syrian riots erupted in Turkey when a Turkish teenager was fatally stabbed in a brawl with a gang of young Syrians in Ankara.
Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) have been losing popularity amid the dire state of the economy fueling rising nationalist sentiment.
Umit Ozdag, leader of Turkey’s anti-migration Victory Party, has attributed the violence to the government’s “privileged” handling of Syrian migrants.
The recent bloodshed has precipitated protests in opposition-held parts of northern Syria, including those held by Turkish-backed troops.
Hundreds of Syrian activists, some armed, marched through the streets in protest. According to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, some tore down Turkish flags, threw rocks and other items at Turkish trucks, and attempted to rush the Jarablus border.
The Syrian Observatory reported that four individuals were killed in “exchanges of fire” with Turkish guards, and another 20 were injured.
Tensions have risen in Syrian opposition-controlled regions as the two nations attempt to reconcile, including plans to open a border between government-held areas and those held by Turkish-backed rebel troops in Aleppo.