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Turkey’s president accuses opposition of stoking racism

ANKARA, Turkey | Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused opposition parties of stoking xenophobia and racism on Monday, a day after residents in a neighborhood in central Turkey set Syrian-owned shops on fire.

The rioting erupted in the Melikgazi region of central Kayseri province late on Sunday, following reports that a Syrian refugee there had allegedly sexually harassed a 7-year-old Syrian girl. Outraged residents overturned cars and set shops ablaze, calling on Syrians to leave.

At least 67 people suspected of involvement in the violence were detained, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on the social media platform X.

In a televised address on Monday, Erdogan accused opposition parties, which have advocated for the repatriation of refugees, of inciting violence.

“Nothing can be achieved by fueling xenophobia and hatred of refugees in society,” Erdogan said and accused the opposition of “poisonous discourse.”

When neighboring Syria’s civil war broke out in 2011, Turkey received hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees with compassion, becoming the country to host the largest refugee population globally. As the population grew and Turkey encountered escalating economic difficulties, it has seen a rise in anti-migrant sentiment.

Turkey is now home to 3.6 million refugees, according to government figures, though some argue the real population may be significantly larger.

Officials said the alleged abuser in the Melikgazi region was arrested while the girl, her siblings and mother were placed under state protection and would receive psychological support.

Umit Ozdag, the leader of Turkey’s anti-migration Victory Party, rejected Erdogan’s accusation and blamed the Melikgazi tensions on the government’s allegedly “privileged” treatment of Syrian refugees.

“In summary, it’s the government’s wrongful Syria policy that is to blame,” Ozdag said. “Don’t go looking elsewhere.”

The Melikgazi violence drew a backlash in opposition-held areas of northwestern Syria, including those controlled by Turkish-backed forces.

In Syria’s Aleppo province, near the border with Turkey, dozens of people gathered at the main roundabout in the town of al-Rai to “prevent the entry of Turkish convoys and trucks” and prevented Turkish trucks from entering the city of al-Bab, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Videos circulating on social media show young men and boys carrying rocks and sticks, chasing after a truck bearing Turkish writing. Demonstrators also chased employees out of a Turkish post office in the Syrian city of Azaz, the group said. In some places, protesters clashed with local security forces.

The Syrian National Army, a coalition of armed Syrian opposition groups backed by Turkey, urged residents of northwestern Syria to “avoid being drawn in by seditionists who seek to sabotage our institutions.”

Tensions have been rising in Syrian opposition-held areas over an apparent rapprochement between Ankara and Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, including plans to open a crossing between government-held areas and those held by Turkish-backed opposition forces in Aleppo.

The al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group’s “salvation government” of the region issued a statement calling on Turkey to “assume its legal and moral responsibilities to protect Syrian refugees.”

In 2021, similar anti-Syrian riots broke out in an Ankara neighborhood after a Turkish teenager was stabbed to death in a fight with a group of young Syrians. Hundreds of people chanting anti-immigrant slogans took to the streets, vandalized Syrian-run shops and hurled rocks at refugees’ homes.

Firefighters

tackle blazes on Greek islands of Chios and Kos

ATHENS, Greece | Firefighters battled wildfires that broke out on the eastern Aegean islands of Chios and Kos Monday and injured five people, as Greece’s prime minister warned of a dangerous summer ahead and said the public’s help was essential in limiting the impact of wildfires.

Emergency services issued evacuation orders for those in the Metohi area of western Chios on Monday morning, urging them to head to a nearby beach. By the evening, more than 140 firefighters, along with eight teams of firefighters specializing in wildfires, seven water-dropping planes and three helicopters were fighting the blaze.

Fire department spokesman Vasilis Vathrakoyiannis said two firefighters had been lightly injured, while dozens more firefighters were heading to the island by boat from the nearby island of Lesbos and from Athens. State-run ERT television later reported that another two firefighters and a volunteer had suffered non life-threatening burns.

“The situation remains difficult in Chios, and all Civil Protection forces will make great efforts to limit it,” Vathrakoyiannis said during an evening briefing.

Another fire broke out further to the south in the Aegean, on the resort island of Kos, and by late Monday had forced the evacuation of several people, including tourists from hotels, as a precaution. That blaze was being tackled by more than 100 firefighters, including reinforcements sent from Athens, as well as six water-dropping planes and two helicopters, Vathrakoyiannis added.

In total, Greece saw 52 wildfires breaking out in the previous 24 hour period, 44 of which were tackled in the early stages, Vathrakoyiannis said. Authorities were still battling a total of eight fires by Monday evening.

The blazes come a day after the fire department managed to tame two large forest fires near Athens that had been fanned by strong winds.

“We have had an exceptionally difficult June regarding weather conditions, with high levels of drought and unusually strong winds for this season,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Monday during a Cabinet meeting. This year’s summer, he said, “is predicted to be particularly dangerous” for wildfires.

Mitsotakis said the use of drones as part of an early warning system for wildfires had been particularly useful this year and credited better coordination between authorities and volunteer firefighters for limiting the extent of fire damage so far.

“We are entering the tough core of the anti-fire period, and this will certainly not be won without the help of the public as well, particularly in the field of prevention,” Mitsotakis said.

Hot, dry weather combined with strong winds helped fan fires in both Greece and Turkey last month. This year’s summer is expected to be particularly prone to blazes following a particularly mild, dry winter. Last year, extensive wildfires in Greece killed more than 20 people.

—From AP reports