services. Turkish president Recep Erdogan suffered a backlash in the June mayoral elections in Istanbul,
where his governing party (AKP) lost to the National Alliance and its candidate Ekrem Imamoglu. Erdogan
had previously said if his party “lost Istanbul, we would lose Turkey”.
The government has ordered Syrians who carry the Kimlik to leave the cities and return to the province
where they were registered when they first entered Turkey. Those who don’t have legal papers fear
deportation back to Syria. Interior minister Suleyman Soylu said around 1,000 unregistered Syrians have
been detained in Istanbul but denied that Turkey was forcibly deporting Syrians, claiming those asked to
leave are returning “voluntarily”. In Istanbul, 500,000 refugees are officially allowed to claim residence in
the city, but since the Syrian civil war intensified, up to 1 million people from the country are believed to
have fled to Istanbul.
What will happen next?
The future doesn’t seem very bright for the Syrians. Despite the Turkish government’s emphatic denial of
deporting them, it was recently reported that five Syrians, who said they were forced to sign paperwork in
Turkish and Arabic, were “voluntarily” returning to Syria. They are usually bundled in a crowded bus with
other Syrians and taken to Bab al-Hawa, crossing into Idlib, a northwestern Syrian province controlled by
opposition forces and Islamist militants backed by Turkey.
Syrians are being transported from to Turkey to
Idlib (Shutterstock)Arab shops have been targeted; several towns have banned Arabic signs, and many journalists and
commentators have launched unprovoked attacks on Syrian families enjoying themselves on public beaches.
Even speaking Arabic in the street can be dangerous in some parts of Istanbul. Despite his government’s
hostile policy towards the Syrians, Erdogan seems reluctant to follow suit in public. He still maintains a
subtle approach and boasts about Turkey’s success in absorbing more Syrians than any other country, and
talks about the money they spend on them.
What might Erdogan’s agenda be?
Many analysts speculate Erdogan wants to reduce the number of refugees in Turkey without triggering an
influx back into Syria. The humiliating defeat in the Istanbul mayoral election was not only a reminder of
Erdogan’s clumsy economic policies, but also of his failure to appease disgruntled Turks, who are alarmed
by his “open door” policy on refugees. Ekrem Imamoglu, a member of the opposition Republican People’s
Party (CHP), turned the table on Erdogan by touching a nerve about refugees. He won more than 54 per
cent of the votes.
The mayoral defeat puts AKP’s reign in jeopardy for the first time since 2002. The party leadership is
mobilising forces to win back the hearts and minds of voters in Istanbul, which is the historical stronghold