Donald Trump's polarizing tenure as U.S. president also affected Turks, according to historian Işıl Acehan, whose academic work has focused on Muslim minorities in the U.S. and Turkish workers who migrated to the U.S. during the Ottoman era.
Discrimination against Muslims in the U.S. rose during the four years of Trump's term as president, Acehan said. Even before Trump took power in 2016, growing anti-Muslim sentiment after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks also affected Turkish nationals in America, and peaked when Trump took office, Acehan said. Campaigning to win the White House, Trump even falsely claimed that Muslim Americans had cheered the fall of the Twin Towers on 9/11.
Acehan said an executive order Trump issued in 2017, which restricted the entry of refugees into the country and introduced strict security procedures for immigrant visas, also harmed Turkish nationals and Muslims. "Trump imposed a travel ban on citizens of seven Muslim countries but couldn't impose a ban on Türkiye because of commercial ties. Trump repeatedly stated during his campaign rallies and afterward that Muslims don’t belong in America and that they are enemies of the American people,” said Acehan, who teaches at Bahçeşehir University in the Turkish capital Ankara.
"These speeches triggered discrimination against Muslims and even changed the perception of many Americans toward Muslims and Turks. Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric manifested as hatred among the public,” she said.
U.S. President Joe Biden, who defeated Trump in the November 2020 race, has made more inclusive moves to reduce polarization in the United States, Acehan said.
His hosting events at the White House marking Ramadan Bayram (Eid al-Fitr), the holiday at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, aimed to bring the government closer to Muslim communities in the country, she said. Acehan stressed that Biden's initiatives in favor of the rights of Muslims in the country have reduced anti-Muslim sentiment in society.
"There is growing awareness of Muslims since Biden took office ... Biden celebrated American Arab Heritage Month (this April), similar to (February's) Black History Month, and in his statement, he mentioned that Muslims have been living in the U.S. for many years. "Biden intended to open an (Islamic) community center project (including a mosque) near the (Twin Towers) site of the 9/11 attacks, which was halted by the Trump administration, but there was a significant lobbying effort against it,” she added.
Acehan highlighted that the frequency of attacks against Muslims and Turks varies depending on the education level of the city. In multicultural cities like New York, where there is a diverse range of cultures, these attacks are minimal, whereas, in smaller cities, they are more common.
Knife attacks in the U.S. on women wearing Islamic headscarves in 2017 were the culmination of longstanding Turkish and Muslim hatred that escalated rapidly after 9/11, said the historian. The family of a Pakistani child who died in the 9/11 attacks was subjected to accusations simply because they were Muslim, Acehan said. Their phones were illegally tapped for six months because their son was branded as a terrorist. When it emerged that the child was an innocent victim, no action was taken.
Speaking on the multi-ethnic tapestry of Ottoman times, where people of various faiths and backgrounds found a welcoming home, Acehan said: "Migration to the U.S. mostly took place from the southeastern Anatolia region. There was a great need for workers in the country, and (ethnic) Armenians who had gone to Protestant schools here brought their neighbors and relatives to the country without passports or even identification.
At that time, Armenians and (ethnic) Turks (from the Ottoman Empire) were living in the same houses in the U.S.” Graduates of Harput American College, which was established by Protestant missionaries in Harput in the eastern Elazig province in 1857, played a pioneering role in the first migration to the U.S. by Turks, said Acehan, adding that the first group to go to the U.S. comprised successful Armenians from the school.
The first immigrants from the Ottoman lands that would later become Türkiye settled in the northeastern U.S. state of Massachusetts and worked in shoe manufacturing, she said, adding that Turkish people filled the labor gap in the U.S. but faced discrimination. She said the first Muslim community to immigrate to the U.S. were Turkish people, but they were not warmly welcomed by locals due to their religion.
"There were problems between Turks who immigrated to the country and Americans due to religious and cultural differences. Turkish people were discriminated against and marginalized,” she explained. Acehan stressed that the U.S. is a secular state built on Protestant culture, and that Protestant Americans tend to discriminate against non-Protestants and races other than their own. Leading newspapers of the time included such headlines as "Turks don’t fit in" and "They should return to their country," she said.
"For locals, Turkish meant Muslim, so there was extreme bias against Turkish. The first Turkish who immigrated to the U.S. faced discriminatory and racist treatment similar to what African Americans experienced,” Acehan said.
"The press constantly fueled this Turkish hatred among the public. Newspapers wrote Turks were prone to crime, unable to adapt to American culture, and there should be minimal interaction with Turks. Isolated incidents were exaggerated, creating a constant portrayal of Turkish as criminals,” she said.
