Future unknown but Syrians in Turkey ‘relieved’ after Erdogan win

Gaziantep, Turkey Hatim al-Abdullah, a Syrian-Turkish citizen, voted for the first time in Turkey’s elections in May, returning longtime leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a five-year presidential term.

“I also voted for Erdogan to protect my family,” 25-year-old al-Abdullah told Al Jazeera in southeastern Turkey’s Gaziantep, hoping his parents and three siblings will have a future in their adoptive family.

Al-Abdullah, originally from Palmyra, was the only one in his family eligible to vote as he was naturalized three years ago due to his achievements in sports and education. A martial arts champion and engineering student at Gaziantep University, he was selected for the citizenship process.

His family is with him in Gaziantep and lives under “temporary protection status”, meaning they are legally protected from refoulement, even though they entered illegally. They have legal residence and access to basic services such as health care and education, but have travel restrictions and can only move within the province they are assigned to.

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, the vast majority of refugees in Turkey – 3.6 million – are Syrians living under temporary protection. According to government figures, about 200,000 people have been granted Turkish citizenship since the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011.

Although al-Abdullah was barely a teenager when he came to Turkey in 2015, he said the family initially felt they were well received, as Syrians and Turks in the southeast share similar culture and traditions. The situation gradually worsened due to a deepening economic crisis with rising inflation and a collapse of the Turkish currency, which in turn contributed to rising anti-migrant sentiment among the Turkish public.

“Some Turks I know told me that Erdogan won because of our votes. But the Syrians’ vote is only 0.2 percent and Erdogan won with a difference of 4 percent,” he said, adding that some of his friends who also obtained citizenship were too afraid to leave the house during the election period because of increasing harassment and racist attacks. so they didn’t vote.

“At least [under Erdogan] I feel I can be involved in Turkish politics as a Turk, not just as a Syrian. Many of us feel that we are an integral part of this country because we mainly grew up here and don’t remember much about Syria,” al-Abdullah said.

“We are like our Turkish counterparts: we are useful to the economy and are here to stay, not to create problems.”

Widespread relief

The day after the run-off, there was a palpable sense of relief in the streets of Inonu Caddesi, Gaziantep’s Syrian-majority neighborhood that is packed with shops displaying Turkish and Arabic signs.

“I’m relieved, but only in theory,” said Mustafa Kara Ali, a photographer from Aleppo who moved to Turkey with his wife and two young daughters in 2018, in front of the shop where he usually buys Syrian desserts.

Many of the half-million Syrians in Gaziantep — located in the heart of the southeastern region hard hit by the February 6 earthquakes — were relieved when Erdogan won here with 62.7 percent of the vote, despite initial concerns he might lose because of the poorly managed and slow response to the disaster. Most of Turkey’s Syrian population lives along the southern border, closer to their homeland.

“For me and my family [his victory] feels more ‘at ease’ because his opponent based his election campaign on racism against us refugees, which is certainly troubling,” said 37-year-old Kara Ali.

Kara Ali is under temporary protection. Syrians like him followed the election closely, the outcome of which will have a crucial impact on their future. Their presence in the country was central to the campaigns, especially ahead of the second round, with both candidates talking about the status of refugees.

Prior to the run-off, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Erdogan’s challenger, appeared on posters in many cities saying “Syrians will go” and accused them of threatening national security. The xenophobic rhetoric first heard in the aftermath of the earthquakes and then during the election campaigns made Syrians feel that their time in Turkey would soon be coming to an end and made them more frightened, said Khaled al-Dimashqi, a 32 year-old humanitarian aid worker with temporary protection in Gaziantep.

“I was under great psychological pressure due to the increase in hate speech and the rise of racism against Syrians,” al-Dimashqi said at Sakulta, a popular coffee shop in Gaziantep where Syrians often gather.

“All our conversations and meetings as Syrians revolved around the elections. We talked about our unknown future after the election and our fear of how society would treat us afterwards,” he added. Al-Dimashqi, originally from Damascus, moved to Gaziantep in 2016 by illegally crossing the border.

Although he was unable to vote, he followed the campaign closely, hoping that fellow Syrians of Turkish nationality would support Erdogan.

Despite the temporary sigh of relief, most Syrians remain cautious.

During the campaign trail, Erdogan promised that one million Syrians would be “voluntarily” returned to their country as he plans to normalize relations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. While it is not clear if or when this will happen, Syrians under temporary protection, such as al-Dimashqi, are concerned that they will face other pressures, such as new papers to remain legal, or increases in rents and bills.

“On a personal level, my main concern is whether I can live in another country,” said al-Dimashqi. “I feel insecure and afraid of the unknown.”