The challenges the region has experienced, mass influxes as well as the resulting demographic changes have fuelled anti-refugee sentiment in Türkiye, experts said as the country increasingly discusses the issue of migration on its agenda.
Not only in Türkiye, but globally the issue of migration and its consequences on host societies is a question of debate.
"Conflicts happening in recent years in our region, changes in ruling authorities have increased international migration. This situation leads to other countries receiving migration influxes and brings to the agenda demographic movements. Türkiye, too, is a country receiving intense migration in this process as a transit country," Mahmut Kaya, an academic at Harran University in sociology told Daily Sabah.
"This brings together several problems on the societal level," Kaya warned. "Especially the pandemic, election process, economic crisis and tension that came along with the earthquake are primary factors affecting Turkish society’s stance toward refugees."
Türkiye has been facing its worst economic crisis in the past few years with inflation soaring and the lira weakening nearly 70% in two years. Moreover, the devastating twin earthquakes in February, damaging whole cities in Türkiye's southeastern areas, have contributed to the adverse feelings. Several Turks in quake-hit towns and cities have accused Syrians of robbing damaged shops and homes. Anti-Syrian slogans such as "We don't want Syrians," "Immigrants should be deported" and "No longer welcome" trended on X, previously known as Twitter.
Similarly, Ahmet Uysal, head of the Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies (ORSAM), pointed to problems within Türkiye in addition to regional tensions.
"Actually, the roots of racism in Türkiye are the same as in the West. Increasing economic difficulties render refugees as targets – and when speaking about refugees, Syrians are what come to the minds of the Turkish people," Uysal said, explaining that this has been the reason why anti-refugee sentiment has been closely mixed with anti-Arab sentiment.
"As the economy gets better, concerns will diminish," he added and reminded that legal action is being taken against groups engaging in provocative acts against migrants.
Kaya underlined that the government is taking various steps in migration management, but that this is largely not reflected within society itself. "As a matter of fact, we see that discrimination and racism are gaining momentum as living conditions become more difficult. Parties that use immigrants as a political card, especially during election processes, cause this problem to spread to all social layers. Presenting individual examples in the media with a generalizing logic is also a factor that increases hatred and discrimination."
Refugees are widely embraced by the public, but the opposition parties often look to fuel a xenophobic, anti-refugee discourse.
In his election campaign, main opposition head Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu had said they had plans to repatriate Syrians in Türkiye within two years after making a deal with Syrian leader Bashar Assad for their safety and coordinating with the U.N.
Unlike Kılıçdaroğlu, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has advocated to better the situation in northern Syria, contribute to the stalled political process in the country, and encourage voluntary and safe returns of Syrians. According to government figures, around 500,000 have returned in this manner.
Now, with local elections nearing in March, the Syrian population in Türkiye especially is concerned that rhetoric against migrants may rear up, echoing efforts to tap into nationalist sentiments during May's general elections.
Uysal, on the other side, mentioned that anti-Arab sentiment in Türkiye has roots among ultra-secular circles historically. He elaborated that although the country also received significant migration as a result of the war between Ukraine and Russia, Syrians are mainly blamed for problems including housing and rent issues.
"However, in any case, historically racism is a concept that Turks are distant from, and although it has shown a temporary increase, the fight against racism has begun at the intellectual and legal level," he said.
"With such rhetoric increasing, Kurdish and Arab tourists also get their share of the problem, adversely affecting tourism," Kaya continued.
"As a result, in addition to a rights-based approach, it is important to take measures to reduce the immigrant burden in Türkiye. Moreover, immigrant groups who are unable to return to their country due to conflicts and who will stay for a long time must go through integration processes."
Türkiye, which hosts the largest number of refugees in the world, was lauded for its exemplary treatment of the refugees but growing far-right anti-refugee sentiment aggravates the risk of violence toward them.
In the past years, refugees have been the subject of attacks in various towns across Türkiye upon rumors that they were involved in cases of rape or murders against the local population.
Most recently, Türkiye’s reputation as a tourist spot was endangered by an attack against Kuwaiti tourists last month. The country is especially receiving high numbers of tourists from the Gulf countries due to being a predominantly Muslim country, the close cultural and historical ties as well as the country’s natural beauty.
Islamophobia in Türkiye?
Problems arising from insufficient integration policies as well as continuing migration have also been occurring in Europe, where the phenomenon has taken shape in terms of increasing Islamophobia.
Yasin Aktay, a sociology scholar who is a member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA), however, warned that Islamophobia is also taking place against Arabic people in some parts of Turkish society, repeating the words of Uysal.
"Whatever people say, Arabs represent Islam. Unfortunately, in the past century, Arabs have been identified with Islam. Therefore, we witness a kind of racism that can very easily transform into Islamophobia," Aktay warned. Yet, the scholar also pointed out that this phenomenon is not as widespread as presented by the media. Saying that Turkish people are not racist, Aktay added: "Turks themselves are not a homogenous society, but rather a society that changed and was mixed throughout history with other races."
‘Integration process critical’
Hakan Gülerce, of the Sociology Department of Harran University, highlighted the sociological aspects of the current anti-refugee and anti-Arab sentiments.
The most critical phase of the migration process – which includes the decision to migrate, pack one’s luggage, taking the road, crossing the border, settling into a new country, facing a new society, social adaptation process, plans for the future and uncertainties – is the confrontation between the local and migrant society, Gülerce explained. This interaction process brings together areas of harmony as well as confrontation, which needs to be managed well.
"What we call social harmony is actually a rights-based process that centers on human dignity for both communities. For both communities, it represents a process of non-exclusion and social participation independent of permanence and temporality. However, this process can be undermined for various reasons," he added and cited prejudices as one of the reasons.
"Misconceptions that are thought to be right play an important role in the process of stigmatization, marginalization and even dehumanization of immigrant individuals. This disrupts social peace," Gülerce said.
"Migration is an issue that should be considered long-term and should never be ignored. Therefore, a more peaceful future worthy of human dignity can be realized with appropriate policies and strategies, and by ensuring social harmony in education, health, social and economic life. Of course, the security aspect of the job should not be neglected. This already brings about a process in which both societies will be harmed and social harmony will be damaged. Therefore, considering the refugees in our country and the long years that have passed, the necessity of further strengthening the rights-based social adaptation process emerges," Gülerce emphasized further.
*Contributed by Mehmet Çelik