Personal Data of Nearly 3M Syrian Refugees in Turkey Leaked

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Facts

  • Amid recent anti-refugee unrest in Turkey, a social media account has leaked the personal data of up to 3M Syrian refugees in the country, posting them alongside a call for 'an uprising.'1
  • The data shared appears to be passport information, and contains full names, addresses, phone numbers, and other personal details, which were shared to Telegram. There are roughly 3.2M Syrians residing in Turkey as refugees.2
  • The Turkish interior ministry has said a 14-year-old is behind the account. Syrians in Turkey must register their addresses with the government to receive temporary protection status and access social services.1
  • Anti-Syrian riots have taken place in Turkey since Sunday over allegations that a Syrian man sexually abused a child in a central Turkish city. Over 470 have been arrested as of Tuesday, and there are reports of fatalities in connection to the violence.3
  • Syrian rioters have reportedly attacked Turkish troops in a border town in the north of Syria, where Turkey maintains a military presence. A 15-year-old Syrian boy was stabbed and killed on Wednesday, among other instances of violence.3
  • Turkey, which has backed the rebel groups in the Syrian Civil War, has expressed an openness in engaging with the regime of Syrian Pres. Bashar al-Assad, which has raised the concern of the Syrian community in Turkey. Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has condemned the rioting.4

Sources: 1The National, 2Rudaw, 3The New Arab and 4Verity.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Human Rights Watch. The Erdoğan government is doing little to effectively quell the xenophobic unrest spreading like wildfire across Turkey. What's worse, the government is even taking steps to push refugees back into Syria under a doomed 'safe zones' plan, where they would face certain persecution from Assad. The Turkish government needs to clamp down on the anti-Syrian prejudice, not embolden it.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Daily Sabah. More than any other country, Turkey has borne the burden of the Syrian refugee crisis. Millions of refugees have strained Turkish society, and the tensions can be ignored no longer. It is in the best interest of Turkey to reestablish relations with Syria to allow for the repatriation of refugees, as it has suffered as a result of a war it did not start. Normalization with Syria is the only path forward for Turkey.