Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Stock

Turkish officials call for calm as social media hysteria fuels anti-Syrian riots

Allegations of sexual abuse against a child by a Syrian man in Kayseri, Turkey, have sparked overnight riots that targeted Syrian businesses and cars in the city.

According to Turkish state news agency Anadolu, a Syrian man was arrested on allegations that he sexually abused his seven-year-old female cousin, who is also Syrian, in a public bathroom at a market.

Reports of the purported abuse quickly spread across social media, prompting outraged local residents to riot — setting fire to cars and Syrian-run businesses in the central Anatolian city.

“An investigation was immediately launched on the issue. However, later our citizens gathered in this region, acted illegally in an attitude that does not suit our human values, and damaged houses, workplaces, and vehicles belonging to Syrian nationals,” Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. He said that dozens of people were detained, and the crowd was only dispersed in the early morning hours.

The local governor of Kayseri called on people “to act calmly, with moderation and common sense.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed opposition parties, some of which have taken a hard line on removing the estimated 3.6 million Syrians from the country, for stoking “hatred politics.”

Erdogan himself has pledged to create the conditions for large numbers of Syrians to voluntarily return to Syria.

“Xenophobia and hatred towards refugees in our country should not be ignited because this does not give any positive results,” he said in a speech on Monday.

At the “Bab al-Salama” border crossing with Turkey, the Turkish flag was removed, burned and replaced with a Free Syrian Army flag, according to a local resident and images circulating on social media.

Several internet providers in northern Syria appeared to be disconnected late Monday. Only satellite internet was still working.

The largest umbrella group representing the Syrian opposition, the “National Coalition for Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces” released a statement urging Syrians on both sides of the border to “exercise self-restraint.”

“The sole beneficiaries of this chaos, violations, and disorder are the regime and terrorist organizations,” the statement read.

Yerlikaya blamed bots and provocateurs for sowing discord on social media. He said that more than a third of accounts sharing content about the events in Kayseri on X were bots and that 10 accounts had been referred to prosecutors.

“We will not tolerate those who threaten the peace and security of our country, make provocative posts, or engage in hate speech,” he wrote on X.

Turkey hosts more Syrian refugees than any other country, but Turkey has often struggled to integrate Syrian refugees fully into society. That, combined with a struggling economy, has turned Syrians into a political lightning rod in Turkey. Many Syrians accuse Turks of racist treatment. Countless Syrian children are not in schools because of a requirement that Syrians remain in the districts they were registered in originally — even after events such as last year’s deadly earthquake in southern Turkey forced many of them to relocate.

All of this comes just days after Erdogan said he was open to meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to restore ties between the two countries — though last year Assad made clear the meeting could not take place so long as Turkish troops remained in Syria. Assad and Erdogan were once close and even vacationed together, but Erdogan eventually backed the Free Syrian Army that sought to oust Assad from power in Syria’s civil war.

This post appeared first on cnn.com
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get the daily email that makes reading the news actually enjoyable. Stay informed and entertained, for free.
Your information is secure and your privacy is protected. By opting in you agree to receive emails from us. Remember that you can opt-out any time, we hate spam too!

You May Also Like

Stock

Boeing’s spaceflight program may reach a significant milestone Monday night with the launch of its Starliner spacecraft, carrying — at long last — two...

Investing

Arcade chain Dave and Buster’s plan to allow customer betting isn’t winning over everyone. Software company Lucra Sports announced on Tuesday that it was working with...

Top News

It appears increasingly possible that Donald Trump could face actual jail time before we ever get a verdict in any of his four criminal...

Stock

A 17-year-old boy handed himself in to police after admitting that he attacked a German politician on Friday. Police say that Matthias Ecke, the...

Disclaimer: InvestorsOnRetire.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively "The Company") do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

Copyright © 2024 InvestorsOnRetire. All Rights Reserved.