Turkey Shuts Syria Border Amid Ongoing Violence

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Facts

  • Turkey closed its major border checkpoint into northwest Syria on Tuesday following an exchange of fire between Turkish forces and Syrians who were protesting violence against their community in Turkey.1
  • This comes as riots erupted across central and southern Turkey on Sunday and Monday against Syrian refugees after Turkish authorities arrested a Syrian man for allegedly sexually abusing a seven-year-old Syrian girl in the city of Kayseri.2
  • Rioters targeted Syrian businesses and cars, with Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya saying that 474 people were detained for taking part in the violence. Turkish Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan condemned the riots and blamed opposition parties for inciting them.3
  • The Istanbul-based Syrian opposition government in exile condemned the actions of Turkish rioters in Kayseri but called on Syrians living in the Turkish-held areas along the border to exercise caution and common sense.4
  • Protesters in Syria also reportedly fear that Erdoğan will re-establish ties with the Syrian government. Turkey has backed rebels in Syria since the beginning of the country's civil war, with its forces eventually taking over areas along the border.4
  • Turkey hosts over 3M Syrian refugees and anti-refugee violence has broken out multiple times in recent years. Similar anti-Syrian riots erupted in Ankara in 2021 after a Turkish teenager was stabbed to death in a fight with a group of young Syrians.5

Sources: 1Reuters, 2CNN, 3Al Jazeera, 4AL and 5Associated Press.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Daily Sabah. The isolated incidents in Kayseri and other parts of Turkey do not represent Turkish values. Far-right parties are inciting racism against Syrians for cheap political gains. In Syria, the Syrian opposition has called for restraint, as it is clear to everyone that Turkey has been the most significant supporter of the Syrian revolution. Turkey has shouldered the burden of a large share of refugees and remains a staunch ally of the Syrian people.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Middle East Eye. Erdoğan has quite the conundrum — his populace is unhappy with the presence of Syrians in Turkey as the economy falters, the Turkish army is still fighting Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria, and discontent among Syrians living in Turkish-controlled areas is growing. Indeed, the Turkish government's potential normalization with Syria's dictator Bashar al-Assad has only added fuel to the fire. Turkey has repeatedly failed to understand the problem and will have to act fast to solve it.