Syrians have been occupied in recent hours with a video showing a Turkish man punching a Syrian elderly woman in the face in the southern city of Gaziantep.
This painful clip has sparked a wave of anger on communication sites as comments poured in, given that the scene sums up the extent of the oppression of Syrian refugees, whether in Turkey or elsewhere. On the other hand, Daoud Gul issued a statement on the identification and detention of the attacker. He explained that the Syrian elderly woman was helped at home, stressing that the authorities would not allow criminal acts. He also apologized to the woman, saying, “I’m sorry.”
He also added that the accused is a 39-year-old Turk named Shakir Shakir. While police records showed the defendant had a criminal record of 9 previous convictions, including bodily harm, solicitation of prostitution and mediation, in addition to a complaint filed by 70-year-old Syrian Leyla Muhammad after he assaulted her. .
It is noteworthy that Turkey hosts, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, about 3.6 million registered Syrian refugees and 320,000 people of other nationalities. However, there have been a number of recent incidents that have been characterized as racist against Syrians, amid high unemployment in the country and deteriorating economic conditions.
While many observers expect the issue of Syrian refugees to be the main topic of the country’s presidential and parliamentary elections next summer (2023), especially since opposition parties are now trying to satisfy voters who demand their deportation to their country, to get their votes in this election. It seems that the ruling party is also trying to satisfy its supporters who are outraged by the recent presence of Syrians in their country, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a few days ago that his government was preparing a project to guarantee the return to Syria about a million refugees.
