ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused opposition parties of stoking xenophobia and racism on Monday, a day after residents in a neighborhood in central Turkey set Syrian-owned shops on fire.
The rioting erupted in the Melikgazi region of central Kayseri province late Sunday following reports that a Syrian refugee there had allegedly sexually harassed a 7-year-old Syrian girl. Outraged residents overturned some cars and set shops ablaze, calling on Syrians to leave.
At least 67 people suspected of involvement in the violence were detained, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on the social media platform X.
In a televised address on Monday, Erdogan accused opposition parties, which have advocated for the repatriation of refugees, of inciting violence.
“Nothing can be achieved by fueling xenophobia and hatred of refugees in society,” Erdogan said. “One of the reasons for the tragic event that was caused by a small group in Kayseri yesterday is the poisonous discourse of the opposition.”
When Syria’s civil war broke out in 2011, Turkey received Syrian refugees with compassion, becoming the country to host the largest refugee population globally. As the population grew and Turkey encountered escalating economic difficulties, it has seen a rise in anti-migrant sentiment. Opposition parties are calling for the repatriation of the Syrians.
Officials said the alleged abuser was arrested while the girl, her siblings and mother were placed under state protection where they would receive psychological support.
The violence against Syrians in Kayseri drew a backlash - in some cases violent - in opposition-held areas of northwestern Syria, including those controlled by Turkish-backed forces.
In Syria’s Aleppo province, near the border with Turkey, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that dozens of people gathered at the main roundabout in the town of al-Rai to “prevent the entry of Turkish convoys and trucks” and also prevented Turkish trucks from entering the city of al-Bab.
Videos circulated on social media showed young men and boys carrying rocks and sticks chasing after a truck bearing Turkish writing. Demonstrators also chased employees out of a Turkish post office branch in the Syrian city of Azaz, the observatory said.
The outbursts came amid rising tensions in Syrian opposition-held areas over apparent moves toward a rapprochement between Ankara and the government of Bashar Assad in Damascus, including plans to open a crossing between government-held areas and those held by Turkish-back opposition forces in Aleppo province.
The Idlib-based “salvation government” of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, known as HTS - a formerly al-Qaida-linked insurgent group that controls other parts of northwestern Syria — issued a statement calling on Turkey to “assume its legal and moral responsibilities to protect Syrian refugees.”
In 2021, similar anti-Syrian riots broke out in an Ankara neighborhood after a Turkish teenager was stabbed to death in a fight with a group of young Syrians. Hundreds of people chanting anti-immigrant slogans took to the streets, vandalized Syrian-run shops and hurled rocks at refugees’ homes.
Turkey is home to 3.6 million refugees, according to government figures though some argue the real population may be significantly larger.
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Ghaith Alsayed in Idlib, Syria, contributed.
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