ISTANBUL: Anti-migrant sentiment, economic woes and political pressures are leading some of the 3.3 millions Syrians living in Turkiye to plan a return to Syria or seek shelter in Europe, according to migrants interviewed by Reuters.
They are concerned that rhetoric against migrants may rear up in campaigning for March local elections, echoing efforts to tap into nationalist sentiments during May’s general elections.
Many of those now living in Istanbul face a more immediate worry — authorities’ Sept. 24 deadline for them to leave the city if they are registered in other Turkish provinces.
One 32-year-old Syrian said he is saving up to pay smugglers and plans to go to Belgium. Hardship caused by Turkiye’s rampant inflation and anti-migrant rhetoric motivated his decision.
“We are blamed and scapegoated for the worsening economy. Discrimination is rising. It is becoming impossible for us to live here,” he told Reuters, declining to give his name for security reasons.
The 32-year-old is among those affected by Sunday’s deadline because he was registered in southeastern Sanliurfa province.
According to rights groups, racist violence against Syrians is increasing and authorities have adopted a tougher policy on migrants not registered in Istanbul, stoking migrants’ fears.
Another Syrian man, a 33-year-old teacher, said he could no longer afford to live in Turkiye after 10 years spent in Istanbul with his two children, with his expenses exceeding his income.
“I decided to return to Syria because of the bad financial situation in Turkiye. I know the situation is bad in Syria too but here it’s worse for me,” he said, declining to be named.
It was not possible to quantify the number of Syrians currently planning to leave for Europe or return to Syria.
Turkiye is home to 3.3 million Syrians with temporary protection permits, according to Turkish authorities. Istanbul has the highest Syrian population with more than 532,000.
While Syrians were assigned to provinces throughout Turkiye, many went to Istanbul due to more job opportunities. Authorities said it was unclear how many such people there were in the city.
DEADLINE TO MOVE
Adem Maarastawi, a 29 year-old Syrian activist working in Istanbul, is registered in central Turkiye’s Kirsehir province.
As Sept. 24 approaches, he fears being sent to Kirsehir.
“I struggled to build a life here. How can I rebuild my life from scratch in another city?” he said, adding that he looked for a job in more than 30 cities before settling in Istanbul.
Experts believe anti-migrant sentiment will dominate opposition campaigning for the March votes, as it did in the May elections, and worry this could lead to more physical and verbal violence against migrants including more social media hostility.
“Anti-migrant rhetoric is likely to rise before the March elections,” said Deniz Sert, associate professor of international relations at Ozyegin University.
Local government expert Ali Mert Tascier said opposition parties are likely to use anti-migrant rhetoric, with municipalities being the main players in managing migrants.
During campaigning for the May elections, the main opposition CHP vowed to send Syrians back. It declined to comment on its migration perspective for the local votes.
President Tayyip Erdogan has been fiercely critical of the opposition’s stance, telling a conference this week that Turkiye’s hosting of refugees would continue unchanged.
However, ahead of the May elections, Erdogan played up his plans to repatriate a million Syrian refugees.
“We will continue to pursue our voluntary return policy. It is, however, inappropriate to use migrants for political gain,” said Osman Nuri Kabaktepe, Istanbul head of Erdogan’s AK Party.
But Maarastawi said he feared such campaigning would lead to a deterioration in the situation for migrants.
“I believe everything will just worsen for us as a result of more populist discourse during the local elections,” he said.
Syrians feel growing pressure from Turkiye’s anti-migrant political wave
https://arab.news/jzs3a
Syrians feel growing pressure from Turkiye’s anti-migrant political wave
- Syrian migrants face deadline to leave Istanbul if registered elsewhere
- Many fear rise in anti-migrant rhetoric before March vote
Israel observes Yom Kippur amid firestorm over Lebanon strikes
- Israel’s military campaign has wrought devastation on Gaza and, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, killed 42,126 people, mostly civilians
JERUSALEM: Israel observed Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, on Saturday amid a firestorm of international criticism over its military offensive in Lebanon and its soldiers firing on peacekeepers.
As the holy day got under way Friday from sundown, Israel faced diplomatic backlash over what it acknowledged was a “hit” earlier in the day on a United Nations peacekeeping position in Lebanon.
Two Sri Lankan peacekeepers were hurt in the second such incident in two days, the UNIFIL mission said Friday.
The military said Israeli soldiers had responded with fire to “an immediate threat” around 50 meters (yards) from the UNIFIL post.
As Israel faced a chorus of condemnation from UN chief Antonio Guterres and Western allies, the military pledged to carry out a “thorough review.”
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah meanwhile warned Israelis to stay away from Israeli army sites in residential areas in the north of the country, alleging the military “uses the homes” of locals and has military bases in residential neighborhoods.
Hezbollah has repeatedly announced it has fired rockets at areas in northern Israel.
The UNIFIL peacekeepers have found themselves on the frontline of the Israel-Hezbollah war, which has killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures.
The latest incident came a day after two Indonesian soldiers were hurt when, according to UNIFIL, tank fire hit a watchtower.
Sean Clancy, the Irish military’s chief of staff, said he did not believe Israel’s explanation of Friday’s incident.
“So from a military perspective, this is not an accidental act,” said Clancy, whose country has troops in UNIFIL.
Guterres condemned the firing as “intolerable” and “a violation of international humanitarian law,” while the British government said it was “appalled” by reports of the wounded.
US President Joe Biden said Friday he was “absolutely” asking Israel to stop firing at UN peacekeepers, while the French, Spanish and Italian leaders issued a joint statement expressing “outrage.”
French President Emmanuel Macron renewed his call for an end to exports of weapons used by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, while saying the UN peacekeepers had been “deliberately targeted.”
The incidents came more than two weeks into Israel’s war with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has seen Israeli warplanes conduct extensive strikes since September 23 on the militants’ strongholds, with multiple civilian areas hit, and ground troops deployed across the border.
Israeli and Hezbollah forces fought along the border on Friday, with Israeli air strikes reported in the south and east of Lebanon.
It marked a tense start to Yom Kippur. From sundown on Friday until nightfall on Saturday, Israeli markets are closed, flights stopped and public transport halted as observant Jews fast and pray on the Day of Atonement.
Diplomatic efforts to negotiate an end to the fighting in Lebanon and Gaza have so far failed, but Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said his government would ask the UN Security Council to issue a new resolution calling for a “full and immediate ceasefire.”
Leaders from nine European countries around the Mediterranean Sea on Friday also called for an end to fighting in Lebanon, as well as Gaza.
Mikati said that only the Lebanese military and peacekeepers should be deployed in the south of the country — the essence of existing Security Council Resolution 1701 — and “Hezbollah is in agreement on this issue.”
US special envoy Amos Hochstein said the United States was working “non-stop” toward a ceasefire.
“We want the whole conflict to end,” he told Lebanese television channel LBC from Washington.
Lebanon’s military said an Israeli strike on one of its positions in south Lebanon killed two of its soldiers on Friday.
Hezbollah is heavily armed and controls large swathes of Lebanon, and successive Lebanese governments have failed to subdue it.
The movement also fought Israeli troops during Israel’s last invasion in 2006.
In Beirut, residents of a central area of the capital targeted by twin Israeli air strikes on Thursday night salvaged their possessions and cleared rubble from the devastated streets.
“There are a lot of families living here,” said Bilal Othman, who explained that many people had sought shelter there from southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, which has been pummelled by Israeli raids since last month.
“Do they want to tell us there is no safe place left in this country?” he said.
The Israeli strikes apparently targeted Hezbollah’s security chief Wafiq Safa, a source close to Hezbollah told AFP.
Lebanon’s health ministry said the strikes killed 22 people and wounded more than 100.
Safa was close to Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike on south Beirut last month.
Hezbollah began firing on Israel in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, following the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which includes hostages killed in captivity.
Israel’s military campaign has wrought devastation on Gaza and, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, killed 42,126 people, mostly civilians.
Late Friday, Gaza’s civil defense agency reported 30 people killed in Israeli strikes on Jabalia, north Gaza.
The co-head of a Japanese atomic bomb survivor group awarded the Nobel Peace Prize said the situation for children in Gaza reminded him of the plight of survivors after World War II.
“It’s like in Japan 80 years ago,” Toshiyuki Mimaki said in Tokyo.
Irish PM demands Israel ‘stop firing’ at UN peacekeepers
- Ireland accounts for 347 of the 10,000 soldiers serving in the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon
- Two Sri Lankan and two Indonesian peacekeepers had been hurt by Israeli fire
DUBLIN, Ireland: Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris on Saturday urged Israel to heed “the concerns of the international community” and not repeat recent firing on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.
“Israel must stop firing on UN peacekeepers serving with UNIFIL in Lebanon,” Ireland’s leader said in a statement, his latest comments on the recent incidents that have sparked a fierce diplomatic backlash.
“Israel must listen to the voice and the concerns of the international community,” he added.
Ireland accounts for 347 of the 10,000 soldiers serving in the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, which is charged with maintaining peace in the south of Lebanon.
Israel said its forces fired at a threat near a UNIFIL position in Lebanon Friday, acknowledging that a “hit” was responsible for wounding two Blue Helmets.
The two Sri Lankan peacekeepers were hurt at UNIFIL’s main base in Naqura, southern Lebanon, according to the mission.
It follows two Indonesian soldiers suffering injuries when tank fire hit a watchtower the previous day, the mission said.
The Irish Defense Forces has said none of its staff were hurt in Thursday’s incident.
Harris, who visited US President Joe Biden earlier in the week, said in the statement he and Biden “agreed that those who serve in Blue Helmets on behalf of the UN must always be afforded full protection.”
Nicaragua breaks diplomatic relations with Israel
- The conflict, the Nicaraguan government said, now also “extends against Lebanon and gravely threatens Syria, Yemen and Iran”
MANAGUA: Nicaragua is breaking off diplomatic relations with Israel, the Central American nation said on Friday, calling the Israeli government “fascist” and “genocidal.”
Nicaragua’s government, in a statement, said the break in relations was due to Israel’s attacks on Palestinian territories.
The nation’s congress had, earlier in the day, passed a resolution requesting Nicaragua take action to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the Gaza war.
The conflict, the Nicaraguan government said, now also “extends against Lebanon and gravely threatens Syria, Yemen and Iran.”
The Middle East is on high alert for further regional escalation after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at Israel on Oct. 1. Iran backs Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah, which Israel has targeted in a series of recent deadly attacks.
Iran is also an ally of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s administration. Nicaragua has become increasingly isolated in recent years after Ortega cracked down on anti-government protests in 2018, which rights groups say left around 300 dead.
Hezbollah warns Israelis to stay away from army in residential areas
- After almost a year of cross-border fire, Israel has increased its strikes on what it says are Lebanese militant group Hezbollah sites since September 23
BEIRUT, Lebanon: Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Friday warned Israelis to stay away from Israeli army sites in residential areas in the north of the country.
“The Israeli enemy army uses the homes” of Israelis in north Israel, and has military bases inside residential “neighborhoods in major occupied cities such as Haifa, Tiberias, Acre,” it said in a statement in Arabic and Hebrew.
It warned Israelis “from being near these military gatherings in order to preserve their lives.”
After almost a year of cross-border fire, Israel has increased its strikes on what it says are Lebanese militant group Hezbollah sites since September 23.
The escalation has killed more than 1,200 people and displaced around a million from their homes.
Hezbollah has repeatedly announced it has fired rockets at areas in northern Israel.
Many Palestinian camps in Lebanon ‘empty after Israeli strikes’
- Israel has ramped up strikes across southern Lebanon and on Beirut’s once-densely populated southern suburbs
BEIRUT: Most Palestinian refugees living in camps in southern Lebanon or near Beirut have fled following escalating Israeli strikes, the head of the UN agency on Palestine refugees said on Friday, drawing parallels with mass displacement in Gaza.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said that the agency continued to provide services to the most vulnerable left behind — and that repeatedly fleeing was sadly “part of the history” of Palestinians. “Now, that’s part, unfortunately, of the plight, but if you compare it with what happened also in Gaza recently, you might have heard me describing how people are constantly being moved like pinballs. And one of the fears is that we replicate a situation similar to the one we have seen until now in Gaza,” he said.
Israel has ramped up strikes across southern Lebanon and on Beirut’s once-densely populated southern suburbs over the last three weeks, issuing evacuation warnings for more than 100 towns in southern Lebanon and neighborhoods near the capital.
They include evacuation warnings and strikes on the Burj Al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut’s southern suburbs and the Rashidiyeh Palestinian refugee camp near the south coastal city of Tyre. Many of the Palestinians who arrived in Lebanon after Israel’s creation in 1948, and their descendants, were living in 12 refugee camps around the country, which hosted about 174,000 Palestinian refugees.
Israeli leaders have accused UNRWA staff of collaborating with Hamas militants in Gaza, leading many donors to suspend funding.
The UN launched an investigation into Israel’s accusations and dismissed nine staff.
In July, the Israeli parliament gave preliminary approval to a bill that would declare UNRWA a “terrorist organization.”
Asked about the move, Lazzarini said the agency “has never, ever been as much under assault and attack.”
“A year ago, it was primarily a financial existential threat, but today it’s a combination of a political and financial threat. 2025 will be, again, a difficult year,” he said. He said he would have more clarity early next year on whether the US would resume funding.
