Ümit Özdağ, head of the Victory Party (ZP), known for his staunch anti-refugee stance, announced that he planned to travel to war-torn Syria next month. Speaking in a YouTube interview on Tuesday, Özdağ said he will lead a delegation of his party for a visit to Damascus and Latakia.
“We will make observations on the ground and see how Syrians live there. We will show people that life is back to normal,” he told journalist Cüneyt Özdemir.
He said the visit was scheduled for the second week of July and he notified the Syrian authorities. “It will be an interesting trip,” Özdağ, who will be accompanied by former Foreign Minister Şükrü Sina Gürel, who now serves as deputy chair of ZP.
Özdağ is the primary advocate of the forced return of Syrian refugees in Türkiye, as well as people of other nationalities who he claims “invaded” Türkiye. ZP won 2.2% of the vote in the parliamentary elections and endorsed Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, a rival of incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the May 28 runoff.
Türkiye hosts the largest Syrian refugee community in the world, who streamed into the country from its southeastern neighbor when a civil war broke out more than a decade ago. Erdoğan also pledged the return of Syrian refugees but insists that it will be “safe, voluntary and dignified,” only after stability and security are maintained in Syria. The government is engaged in rebuilding projects in Syria’s north, liberated from terrorists with the assistance of the Turkish army, to encourage the return of refugees. ZP and other opposition parties, however, call for the immediate return of refugees.
Özdağ, an academic, rode a wave of popularity amid fluctuating anti-refugee sentiment in Türkiye, which far-rightists blame on refugees’ burden on the economy.
