Syrians in Turkiye fear for future after Erdogan plans talks with Assad

1 / 2
An aerial view shows the Atme camp for displaced Syrians close to the border with Turkey in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, on April 19, 2020. (AFP file photo)
2 / 2
Family and friends say goodbye as Syrian refugee voluntarily board buses returning to neighbouring Syria on August 6, 2019 in the Esenyurt district of Istanbul. (AFP file photo)
Short Url
Updated 09 July 2024
Follow

Syrians in Turkiye fear for future after Erdogan plans talks with Assad

  • The number of Syrian arrivals has worried Turks, who wonder if they will ever return home, prompting Erdogan to promise talks and an eventual “honorable” voluntary return for most

ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s sudden plan to invite his estranged Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad for talks has raised fears among Syrians in Turkiye of being sent back, a week after a spate of anti-migrant violence already left them shaken.
Ankara severed ties with Damascus in 2011 after Syria’s civil war began and Turkish forces backed anti-Assad forces in the north. However, in the last two weeks, Erdogan has stressed the need for reconciliation with Turkiye’s neighbor.
On Sunday, he was quoted as saying he would invite Assad “any time” to work on returning to past relations with Syria, which has been severed by the war that drew in the US, Russia, Turkiye, and several armed groups.
“There are fears that Erdogan will make a deal with Assad and send the Syrians back” to Damascus-held parts of the country, said Samir Al-Abdullah, of the nonprofit Harmoon Center for Contemporary Studies in Istanbul.
“There are also those who fear they will be stripped of their Turkish citizenship,” he said of some of Turkiye’s more than 3 million Syrian war migrants.
Turkiye hosts more refugees than any other nation.
The number of Syrian arrivals has worried Turks, who wonder if they will ever return home, prompting Erdogan to promise talks and an eventual “honorable” voluntary return for most.
Ahmad, 19, a Syrian student in Istanbul’s Eyupsultan district, said his family is considering selling their properties in Turkiye due to the anti-immigrant unrest.
“They are scared even though they have Turkish citizenship,” he said, declining to give a surname for security reasons.
In Istanbul’s densely populated Sultanbeyli district, which houses many Syrian refugees, residents said attackers broke the windows of a Syrian-owned barber shop and chanted anti-immigrant slogans. A Syrian mother said her son, 8, now “wants to stay indoors because he believes people might do us harm.”
Erdogan said public order is a red line for the country.
Syria has said any normalization in ties can only come after Turkiye agrees to pull out thousands of troops from the rebel-held areas — a precondition Ankara has called unacceptable, citing security concerns over Syrian Kurdish fighters.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights, a UK-based advocacy group, said on Friday Syria is not safe for the return of millions of refugees from Turkiye.
Last week, Erdogan — who had somewhat hardened his stance on migrants ahead of presidential elections last year — has said that 670,000 people have returned to settlements in northern Syria, and another 1 million people are expected to return.

 


Algeria president re-elected with 84.3 percent of votes: official results

Updated 8 sec ago
Follow

Algeria president re-elected with 84.3 percent of votes: official results

ALGIERS: Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has won a second term with 84.3 percent of the votes in last week's election, according to final results announced Saturday by Omar Belhadj, president of the constitutional court.
Preliminary results issued by the North African country's electoral authority ANIE on Sunday gave the incumbent nearly 95 percent of the votes, prompting other candidates to challenge the tally.


Turkiye arrests suspected Istanbul church attack planner linked to Islamic State

Updated 2 min 1 sec ago
Follow

Turkiye arrests suspected Istanbul church attack planner linked to Islamic State

  • One Turkish citizen was killed by two Daesh gunmen at the Italian Santa Maria Catholic Church in Istanbul in January
ANKARA: Turkish authorities have arrested a Daesh militant believed to be involved in planning an attack on the Santa Maria Italian Church in Istanbul earlier this year, the country’s intelligence agency said on Saturday.
The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) said the suspect, whom it identified as Viskhan Soltamatov, was believed to be the key figure behind the Jan. 28, 2024 attack. He was detained by MIT and police during a joint operation in Istanbul, the agency said.
MIT said Soltamatov was also believed to have supplied the weapon used in the assault.
One Turkish citizen was killed by two Daesh gunmen at the Italian Santa Maria Catholic Church in Istanbul in January.
The church attack was orchestrated by IS-linked operatives from the group’s Khorasan Province (ISKP), a faction active in Afghanistan. In April, Turkiye had arrested 48 people believed to be linked to the attack.

Tunisian court orders electoral commission to reinstate presidential candidates

Updated 2 min 1 sec ago
Follow

Tunisian court orders electoral commission to reinstate presidential candidates

  • The move by the Administrative Court comes amid growing political tension in the North African country
  • Thousands of Tunisians took to the streets on Friday in the country’s biggest march in two years

TUNIS: Tunisia’s highest court on Saturday ordered the electoral commission to reinstate two candidates for a presidential poll in October, warning that failure to do so could jeopardize the legitimacy of the election.
The move by the Administrative Court comes amid growing political tension in the North African country and fears from the opposition and civil society groups about a rigged election that would lead to President Kais Saied winning a second term.
Thousands of Tunisians took to the streets on Friday in the country’s biggest march in two years, protesting against restrictions on freedoms and the undemocratic electoral climate.
The protesters chanted slogans including “Out with dictator Saied.”
Tensions mounted after the electoral commission earlier this month rejected the court’s decision to restore the candidacy of Abdellaif Mekki, Mondher Znaidi and Imed Daimi ahead of the Oct.6 race, citing alleged irregularities in their candidacy filings.
Major parties and civil society groups said that the commission, whose members were appointed by the president himself, had became a tool in the hands of the president against his rivals.
The head of the commission Farouk Bouasker has denied the accusations and said that “the commission is the only constitutional body entrusted with the integrity of the election.”
But the court said on Saturday that the commission is obligated to implement its decision and, if necessary, to review the electoral calendar. It is not clear if this means postponing the election or extending the campaign timeframe.
“Otherwise it would lead to an illegal situation that conflicts with the electoral law and the transparency of the electoral process,” it said.
The court asked Znaidi and Mekki to be included in the race, after they filed a new complaint against the commission’s decision. The third candidate, Daimi, has not filed a second appeal yet.
Saied was democratically elected in 2019, but then tightened his grip on power and began ruling by decree in 2021 in a move the opposition has described as a coup.


Salvagers launch new attempt to tow an oil tanker blown up by Yemen’s Houthi rebels

Updated 14 September 2024
Follow

Salvagers launch new attempt to tow an oil tanker blown up by Yemen’s Houthi rebels

  • EU’s Operation Aspides published images dated Saturday of its vessels escorting ships heading to the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion

DUBAI: A new attempt has begun to try to salvage an oil tanker burning in the Red Sea after attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, a European Union naval mission said Saturday.
The EU’s Operation Aspides published images dated Saturday of its vessels escorting ships heading to the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion.
The mission has “been actively involved in this complex endeavor, by creating a secure environment, which is necessary for the tugboats to conduct the towing operation,” the EU said.
A phone number for the mission rang unanswered Saturday.


The Sounion came under attack from the Houthis beginning Aug. 21. The vessel had been staffed by a crew of 25 Filipinos and Russians, as well as four private security personnel, who were taken by a French destroyer to nearby Djibouti.
The Houthis later planted explosives aboard the ship and detonated them. That’s led to fears the ship’s 1 million barrels of crude oil could spill into the Red Sea.
The Houthis have targeted more than 80 vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that also killed four sailors. One of the sunken vessels, the Tutor, went down after the Houthis planted explosives aboard it and after its crew abandoned it due to an earlier attack, the rebel group later acknowledged.
Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets.
The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.


Syria’s Assad names ex-minister Jalali to form cabinet

Updated 14 September 2024
Follow

Syria’s Assad names ex-minister Jalali to form cabinet

CAIRO: Syrian President Bashar Assad issued a decree naming former communications minister Mohammad Ghazi Al-Jalali to form a new cabinet, state media said on Saturday.
The new cabinet will replace an outgoing administration which has been serving in a caretaker role since parliamentary elections in mid-July.
Al-Jalali served as communications minister from 2014-2016. He has been subject to EU sanctions. 
since 2014 for his “responsibility for the regime’s violent repression of the civilian population.”
According to UN figures, at least 350,000 people have been killed in Syria’s civil war, which erupted in 2011 from an uprising against Assad’s rule.