Türkiye’s Kilicdaroglu vows to expel refugees after elections

Statements by the opposition presidential candidate ahead of his run-off against President Erdogan on May 28 prompt reactions online.

Opposition leader and Turkish presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu has vowed to send “10 million refugees” home if he wins the May 28 runoff, as he shifts into a sharply more anti-immigrant tone to try to win nationalist votes and defeat to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. .

Kilicdaroglu, a candidate from a six-party opposition alliance, made inflammatory comments Wednesday accusing the government of allowing an exaggerated 10 million “irregular” migrants into the country.

The longtime economist and bureaucrat warned that the number of immigrants in Turkey, which has a population of 85 million, could rise to 30 million, without providing evidence for the figures he cited.

Kilicdaroglu went further on Thursday, saying Erdogan “did not protect (Turkey’s) borders or honor.”

“You knowingly brought more than 10 million refugees into this country,” Kilicdaroglu said. “…I am announcing it here: as soon as I come to power, I will send all the refugees home. Period.”

Syrians began to flee to Türkiye and other nations starting in 2011 when President Bashar al-Assad crushed an uprising against his government and sparked the outbreak of war.

Türkiye has hosted more Syrian refugees than any other country. About 3.6 million are registered in the country.

The Turks generally welcomed the refugees initially, but the country is now experiencing an economic crisis as the value of the lira has plummeted and inflation has risen, leading to rising resentment against Syrians and others. refugee and migrant populations. Nationalists have taken advantage of the economic crisis and Turkey’s relatively welcoming policy towards refugees to attack the government.

Kilicdaroglu’s comments sparked debates on social media.

Sami Hamdi, managing director of International Interest, a political risk firm that focuses on the Middle East, tweeted that the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) had returned to his party’s “natural” xenophobia.

Kilicdaroglu removes his heart-shaped makeup and comes out swinging with his most natural CHP-style xenophobia against refugees and the “flood of irregulars that seep into our veins every day.”

Neither Davutoglu nor Babacan will be able to temper these sentiments if he wins. https://t.co/eEs3wKJJnt

– Sami Hamdi Sami Al-Hashemi Al-Hamidi (@SALHACHIMI) May 17, 2023

Another analyst, Oznur Kucuker Sirene, said the speech was likely to appeal to nationalist voters.

The alliance with the HDP could not win the elections, on the contrary, they were very disappointed. It turned out that the determining factor in the election was the nationalist voter. Let the speeches with the portraits of Atatürk begin now… https://t.co/SKMHco48nW

— Oznur Kucuker Sirene (@SireneOznur) May 17, 2023

Translation: “The alliance with the HDP did not win the elections, on the contrary, they were very disappointed. It became clear that the determining factor in the election was the nationalist voters. Let the speeches with the portraits of Atatürk begin now…”

Another user, Fatih Guner, mocked the opposition, saying in a long tweet that its leader is simply appeasing supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while calling for protests in front of the CHP headquarters.

“Don’t think that CHP’s position and policy will change in the public eye with one video. You keep calling it ‘campaign’, it doesn’t matter one bit,” Guner tweeted. “They are appeasing the opposition voters, the CHP is only seeking their own seat, they have no goal of winning the election. KK cannot be trusted.”

Turkish authorities have apprehended nearly 50,600 undocumented migrants this year as of May 11 after detaining 285,000 in 2022, according to Interior Ministry data.

Migrants and refugees living in Turkey have faced an increasingly hostile climate in recent years, leading to growing support for their departure from the country and even violence.

Meanwhile, Kilicdaroglu’s supporters reacted to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu’s statement in an interview with local media outlet tv100 in which he stated that he cannot return Syrian refugees already in the country.

“We will not turn Turkey into a refugee warehouse, but the Syrians are our brothers and sisters. We cannot send them to die,” Soylu said during the interview.

One Twitter user said the following in response: “You are killing us so they don’t die. Why we? The Syrians are a flower that will die at a stretch, but what about us? Do you want us to die, can you risk losing us?

You kill us so they don’t die

Why we?

We Syrians are a flower that will go out in a breath, but what about us?

Do you want us to die, can you afford to lose us? https://t.co/QvlqqJw6GN pic.twitter.com/wzOOmdEiRh

— O (@curlNbrunette) May 18, 2023

Another user reiterated the idea that the government is forgetting about its own people: “But you are leaving your own people to die. Citizens of this country have more refugee status than Syrians.”

You’re letting your own people die. The citizens of this country are more refugees than Syrians.

— MEHMET Y (@mhmettylmzz) May 17, 2023

One user also expressed concern about the impact of Syrians on the “demographic structure” of the country.

“Can you risk the degradation of the demographic structure? What will happen 20 years later? After the PKK, what if they also ask for land? Is there any guarantee that they won’t say that this (land) actually belongs to us or whatever and set up organizations?

Is it risking the deterioration of the demographic structure? What will happen after 20 years? And if after the Pkk they also start asking for land? Is there any guarantee that the town halls will not organize themselves by saying that they are actually ours?

— Efdal Zeynel İÇELLİ (@efdalicelli) May 17, 2023