Turkish prosecutors launched an investigation into Ümit Özdağ, the leader of the far-right Zafer (Victory) Party over defamation, as the politician has been continuously targeting Syrian refugees in Turkey following 6 February’s destructive earthquakes.
The investigation was launched upon the complaint of Abdülbaki Bozdağ, whom Özdağ presented to the public as a Syrian refugee stealing mobile phones during rescue works. Almost a day later, it became clear that the person targeted was in fact a Turkish volunteer and the phone in his pocket belonged to him. Özdağ declined to apologise, saying that Bozdağ wore a blue raincoat usually used by Syrian translators.
Özdağ left the centre-right İyi (Good) Party and established his party. The politician gained huge popularity last year as he kept on targeting particularly Afghan and Syrian refugees in the country at every given opportunity, escalating the already existing resentments in the society. In the past week, without verifying Özdağ also shared footage allegedly from a dormitory in the southern province of Mersin. Özdağ said the footage showed Syrian refugees sheltered in the dormitory and entertaining themselves. However, inspections of the authorities proved that those allegations were false. The dormitory has been used as shelter for Turkish citizens.
However, following the earthquakes, Özdağ faced a significant backlash, angering many people across the political spectrum. The politician called people criticising him “stateless people”, while he also targeted Selahattin Demirtaş, the jailed former co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), who called Özdağ a “clown” and warned against increasing xenophobia in the society. Özdağ called Demirtaş a “separatist idler”.
Yet, despite the backlash, Özdağ again managed to guide the public’s outrage following the earthquakes towards refugees. Some opened hashtags, calling on the government to send Syrians back home, as many reports regarding looting in earthquake-hit area implied refugees as the culprits, though often such reports turned out to be false.
A tweet posted by Turkish actor Şahan Gökbakar showed the extent of anti-refugee sentiments triggered by the disaster.
“As of today, do not let any temporary asylum seeker, refugee, illegal Afghan into this country. Now is the time to help the more than 13 million of our own people affected by this disaster. Health, shelter and all our financial means should be used only for our own people, not for foreigners.” he wrote. His tweet was viewed 5.4 million times and received almost 60 thousand likes.
The growing negative sentiment towards refugees creates additional problems as many Syrians in Turkey had also been living across the 10 provinces destroyed by the earthquake, while Turkey is the only entry point for humanitarian aid being sent to earthquake victims in northern Syria.
The Migration Monitoring Association on Saturday shared with the public discriminatory attitudes towards refugees, particularly those needing to move to other places in Turkey same as millions of homeless citizens.
Foreigners residing in the provinces affected by the earthquake who are caught in other places without a road permit are only allowed to stay 90 days in those provinces. The refugees also cannot benefit from the Turkish Airlines flights used for evacuating earthquake victims.
Reports from earthquake-hit Elbistan district of Kahramanmaraş province also show discriminatory practices refugee face. A report of Medya News in Turkish is based on the experience of Meryem Harari, who has been living in the province for 10 years and has lost many relatives in the earthquake. Harari says they had not received any humanitarian aid, except a small tent, which has been used by three families.
According to the Initiative for Refugees’ Union, in Diyarbakır the refugees are not allowed to receive tents distributed by Turkish authorities. Bianet reported that the dead bodies of refugees killed in the earthquake were left on the streets in Hatay.
Mohamad Saleh Ali, the head of the Association for Solidarity with Syrian refugees, also protested Syrians being criminalised over false looting reports. The activist said the earthquake meant another period of displacement for Syrians who had already been trying to cope with many problems.
“These are provocations, refugees are being implicated. They are continuously being made an instrument for propaganda, a tool for elections. Though the most important thing now is saving people under the rubbles, refugees are being targeted. Refugees are not a burden. Stop targeting them,” he said.
The immigration commission of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) issued a statement, condemning the atmosphere of hatred created around the refugees.
“In a period we have been witnessing a huge humanity tragedy, we are also struggling against an atmosphere of hatred that is trying to be organised against refugees and immigrants. Being aware that such efforts can lead to grounds for possible lynches, we call everybody to act in a responsible way,” the statement said.
Talha Elgazi from the Platform for Refugee Rights, who visited the earthquake area, told Bianet on Sunday that they had heard serious attacks against refugees, adding that such attempts escalated as a result of Özdağ’s campaign.
