Turkey is trying to deport Syrian refugees back to a war zone

For the past five years similar scenes have played out each day in Esenyurt, a district in Istanbul. Every few minutes police officers frogmarch a young man onto a bus. Esenyurt is home to one of the biggest communities of Syrians in Turkey. Across the country, the authorities are rounding up undocumented migrants. Over 34,600 Syrians have been caught this year; almost all will be deported back to the war zone.

Officially 3.1m Syrians live in Turkey. Add those there illegally and the true figure is much higher. Their lives, already desperate, are getting harder as the Turkish government restricts their rights.

In 2021, 66% of Turks said they wanted Syrians to return to their country. Attitudes have hardened. In the run-up to the 2023 elections, the opposition promised to deport them all. In July Syrian-owned houses, businesses and cars were attacked in anti-refugee riots.

The roots of the discontent are complex. Anti-Arabism in Turkey stretches back to the collapse of the Ottoman empire. Many Turks fear that the presence of Syrian refugees and their children (Turkey’s interior minister says that more than 700,000 Syrian babies have been born in Turkey since 2011) will lead to a cultural and demographic shift that will pull Turkey away from the West.

Mr Erdogan may not mind that shift, but the refugees are a political headache for him now. He once styled himself as their protector and a champion of Syria’s opposition. As Turks have turned against the refugees and more countries have re-established relations with Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s dictator, Mr Erdogan has tried to realign himself. But Turkey is still deeply involved in Syria’s war. And persuading millions of Syrians to return to a country that, for many, is as dangerous as when they left will be very hard. ■

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