Syrian refugee faces deportation for the comments on Twitter criticising the Turkish government. He was also exposed to discrimination during his interrogation at the police station, Mesopotamia Agency (MA) reports.
Since 2012 Turkey hosts more than four million refugees, primarily Syrian people escaping the conflict zones and some of them are still staying in refugee camps in provinces near to the Turkey-Syria border.
Syrian refugee Munip Ali is one of them. Escaped from the war in his country, he has been living in İzmir province of Turkey since 2013 and was accused of ”provoking the public to hatred and hostility”, for comments criticising the government on Twitter.
The provincial governor issued a deportation decision and moved him to Harmandalı removal centre in Çiğli district of İzmir. The investigation launched against the Syrian refugee Ali, due to his shared footage and tweet of police using tear gas against members of the Furkan Foundation (a radical islamist group in Turkey that has been targetted by the government many times for opposing the government) praying in a mosque in the southeastern province of Gaziantep.
His lawyer, Meral Kaban, member of the Lawyers Association for Freedom (ÖHD) drew attention to the racism that Syrian refugees faces in Turkey regarding the deportation decision on the grounds he ”acted against the public order”
”My client (Ali) has been living in the same apartment for past four years in İzmir with his mother and sibling. His comments are completely in line with freedom of expression” she said and added:
”Ali explained that recently he has been faced with racist treatment and subjected to discrimination because he is Syrian,”.
According to attorney Kaban, the refugees are in a more disadvantaged position in every aspect of life in Turkey compared to Turkish citizens. If they are cricitising the politics of the government, they might be faced with various injustices like in the case of Ali.
”The deportation decision and administrative detention by the governorship are against the law.” Kaban said ” We will appeal to the court for the suspension of any execution regarding the decision made against my client”.