Refugees are increasingly becoming a huge matter of concern in many countries. When a country faces a battle, its people flee to another country to save their lives. Similarly, the neighboring countries give them a place to stay in a gesture of peace and harmony. But the issue arises when refugees refuse to leave even after the end of the war. They become a burden for the host country as they live on citizen’s tax, share their land and their job opportunities.
In return, the host country faces issues of unemployment and economic inflation. Turkey is also under the same circumstances as Syrian and Afghan refugees are living in Turkey for a long time. Turkish citizens are now fed up with sharing their land and resources and protesting to send refugees back. This protest results in fights between refugees and Turkish people that caused riots in Ankara.
Afghan and Syrian refugees in turkey
According to statistics, there are almost more than three million Syrian refugees are living in Turkey. Similarly, hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees have also settled in the country. They are not only influencing the economy but also the politics of the country. Many refugees arrived in turkey after the second world war and never went back. Due to the increasing economic burden Turkish people now see Syrians and Afghans as a threat to the economy. After the huge fire eruption, the country faced significant economic loss. At this point, citizens of turkey asking the government to reduce their burden and send the Syrian and Afghan refugees back to their countries.
Riots in Ankara, Turkish and Syrian refugees fought
Ankara is the capital and most of the refugees live there. A few days ago citizens of the country gathered in Altindag, the city of Ankara, and protested against refugee settlement. Their main objective was to force the government to send refugees back to their respective countries.
It is a crucial time for this movement because many other countries already deporting refugees. Recently Pakistan government has announced to deport the Afghan refugees. The Pakistani president Imran Khan made this decision after Afghan Authorities blamed Pakistan for terrorism in Afghanistan. Similarly, Germany has also announced to exclude the Afghan refugees from their country. It’s also a crucial time for the turkey to change their policies for migratory settlement.
The citizens were rightfully protesting for the betterment of their country and economy. However, things got worsened when the protests turned into fights. Syrian refugees took the protest offensive and started a fight. In the confrontation, refugees killed a young Turkish citizen and injured another one. This heightened the rage among the Turkish people who are hosting those refugees for decades.
Turkish people attacked Ankara
After the refugee attacks, hundreds of angry Turkish citizens attacked Altindag where the refugee lives. They destroyed Syrian homes and businesses. They smashed all the belongings and properties of refugees. During the riots, a refugee child got injured.
The attackers stated that they will stop only when they send Afghan and Syrian refugees back. According to an Attacker,
“We allowed them to live here as brotherhood but now we understood Turk do not have any brother rather than Turk fellows.”
Turk attacker
However, after the images of an injured refugee child came out, police forced the citizens to stop the riots in Ankara. According to police, they have detained more than seventy Turkish attackers. Although the attacks are stopped, the opposition party of turkey is forcing the government to make a decision. However, the Turk government is hesitating on it. According to Tayyip Erdogan
“We have given them a place to live as they begged for safety. Now we can’t tell them to go back to their places.”
Tayyip Erdogan
Twitter trending “Go home refugees.” After riots in Ankara
The ending of riots is not the end of Turkish rage. Millions of Turkish people are using social media and started a campaign to deport the Syrian and Afghan people. The Twitter trend “Go home refugees” is one of the top trending topics of the world. Along with that other hashtags are trending such as “Go back Afghan” and “Go back Syrians.” According to Twitter users, these refugees are a threat to the economy and peace of their country.
According to a Twitter user, the refugees harass our women, killed our teenagers, lower the Turkish flag, and hung their country’s flag in return for our hospitality. They must go back! According to another tweet, the refugees go to their countries to spend holidays there. That means there is no more war in their places. Then why they don’t settle back to where they lived.
At the same time, many people criticized Turkish attackers for harming many innocent refugees. In response to the attacks, the refugees are saying that they have no place to go. However, they do whatever police will tell.
On the other hand, many Turkish people are blaming Europe for riots. As back in years ago, Europe made deal with Turkey to accept the refugee in exchange for funding. According to the critics, Europeans closed the doors in face of refugees and handed over millions of them to Turkey.
Also read our article “turkey is burning” on blazing fires in various cities of turkey.
