Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is full of deceptions; his reputation precedes him. The nature of the Turkish deportations of Syrians showcases the intent:
The deportations come less than a month after Turkey-backed rebels joined forces with al-Qaeda-linked jihadis to fight dictator Bashar al-Assad troops in an around Idlib.
“IS jihadis were bused to Syria on buses owned by the Turkish Intelligence Agency, MIT….At least 15,000 ISIS fighters entered Syria this way” while “Turkish authorities knew but did nothing to stop it.”
Turkey has deported 4,500 Syrians this month alone, suggesting authorities are intensifying efforts to deal with the “rumbling grievances” by locals “over their prolonged presence,” Reuters reported this week.
It is unclear how many of the thousands of Syrians removed this month left by their own accord or were forced to leave. Turkey denies that it is forcibly deporting any Syrians.
Hurriyet Daily News quoted Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu as telling broadcaster NTV on Wednesday:
“There are Syrians who come [to Turkey] via illegal means. We’ve taken them in and sent them to camps, saying that we have not given [you] a residence permit. No one under temporary protection can be deported. … What are doing with them? When we catch unregistered Syrians, we send them to camps. There are currently 100,000 people in the camps.”
All Syrians in Turkey are reportedly under temporary protected status.
“Our problem is with refugees who live in Istanbul but are registered in other provinces. Since July 12, we have caught 6,122 people, 1,000 of whom are Syrians. Of them, 2,600 are Afghans. We catch all of them. And except for the Syrians, we transfer them to repatriation centers. Syrians are under temporary protection,” the minister said.
The deportations come less than a month after Turkey-backed rebels joined forces with al-Qaeda-linked jihadis to fight dictator Bashar al-Assad troops in an around Idlib.
Ankara is participating in operations in northwestern Idlib province that are inciting more violence, driving residents towards Turkey.
Referring to the 4,500 removals of Syrian refugees from Turkey this month, Reuters noted on Thursday:
The numbers represent only a tiny fraction of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, but the detentions and transfers suggest authorities are stepping up actions to address rumbling grievances over their prolonged presence.
They follow two clashes in Istanbul when crowds attacked Syrian shops, now targets of resentment for Turks who see Syrians as taking jobs and crowding out health and education services while Turkey battles an economic recession.
Most Syrians live in southern Turkish provinces near the border but Istanbul province holds the largest contingent. Many have started hiding at home, waiting for the wave of arrests to recede and some stopping work to express their anger.
While some Turks are expressing anger about the ongoing presence of Syrian refugees in their country, Ankara is fomenting unrest in Syria.
Thousands of al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists, and to a lesser extent Turkey-backed rebels, control the territory in and around Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in Syria.
This month, Reuters revealed that about 300,000 people fleeing the Russian-backed Assad regime’s renewed bombardment against Turkey-backed rebels and al-Qaeda jihadis in Idlib that began in April are heading towards the Turkish border…..
elee says
Treacherous part of the world after a millennium and a half of the sons of the Prophet. He who would sup with the devil needs a very long spoon.
jarmanray says
It seems that the promises of the Arab Spring skipped Summer and went into Autumn and then quickly sped into Winter. It is funny how fast the enthusiasm of the uprisings in Homs dissipated and at the time there were a number of prescient analysts who stated that Assad would not be brought down without American and European leadership and military force, which was never in the cards. As long as Turkey could benefit from a Syrian civil war, Erdogan was willing to accept the Muslim refugees but Allah forbid that he would help protect Christian or other minority religious and ethnic groups and now that the bright days of spring have turned to frigid wintery days, it is time for those refugees to return to a place that was once home.
Where is Obama and Mrs. Clinton now that the reality of the promises that they espoused has left much of the world far worse off than before. Without the Syrian civil war, the Islamic flood into the West as well as far off places such as Australia and even South Korea would not have happened but the largest tragedy has been the slaughter of Christians, Kurds and Yazidis in Syria who had nothing what so ever to do with the uprisings which makes me cry and pray for all the innocent lives wasted in an internecine that should never have happened.
Angemon says
Christians were not safe under Assad:
https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/religion/332938-dont-be-fooled-assad-is-no-friend-of-syrias-christian-minorities
Assad also released scores of hardened jihadis under the guise of “political amnesty” – jihadis that immediately took up arms against him.
gravenimage says
+1
elee says
This is a religious and cultural tradition. It’s called “how Muslims return kindness shown.” Could Assad have possibly expected anything else?
Angemon says
Who said Assad did it out of kindness?