Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
19-05-2023
ANKARA: Turkish opposition leader and presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu has promised to send “10 million refugees” home if he wins a May 28 run-off as he shifts to a sharply more anti-migrant tone to try to win nationalist votes and defeat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Kilicdaroglu, candidate of a six-party opposition alliance, made incendiary comments on Wednesday accusing the government of allowing an exaggerated 10 million “irregular” migrants to enter the country.
The economist and longtime bureaucrat warned that the number of migrants in Turkey, which has a population of 85 million, could rise to 30 million while providing no evidence for the figures he cited.
Kilicdaroglu went further on Thursday, saying that Erdogan “did not protect (Turkey’s) borders and honor”.
“You knowingly brought more than 10 million refugees to this country,” Kilicdaroglu said. “… I am announcing it here as soon as I come to power, I will send all refugees home. Period.”
Syrians began fleeing to Turkey and other nations starting in 2011 when President Bashar al-Assad crushed an uprising against his rule and caused war to break out.
Turkey has taken in more Syrian refugees than any other country. About 3.6 million are registered in the country.
Turks in general welcomed the refugees initially, but the country is now experiencing an economic crisis as the value of the lira has plunged and inflation has surged, causing resentment to grow against Syrians and other refugee and migrant populations. Nationalists have seized on the economic crisis and Turkey’s relatively welcoming policy towards refugees to attack the government.
Kilicdaroglu’s comments set off debates on social media.
Sami Hamdi, the managing director of International Interest, a political risk firm focusing on the Middle East, tweeted that the Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader had returned to his party’s “natural” xenophobia.
Another analyst, Oznur Kucuker Sirene, said the speech was likely to appeal to nationalist voters. (Int’l News Desk)
