Theoretically, I don't know when I became anti-nationalist and anti-racist.
Türkçe English Deutsch Italiano Français Ελληνικά Kurdî Español I don't know when I became theoretically anti-nationalist and anti-racist, but I can never forget the first time I was discriminated against. Towards the end of the 1980s in Istanbul, I was walking down the street when a group of young people made fun of my mother's traditional Kurdish dress (she wore a headscarf). Since that day, any kind of discrimination and racism against those who are different creates an incredible reaction in me. For decades, within the framework of the Stop Racism and Nationalism Platform, we have been trying to fight against this intolerance in Turkey, which sometimes leads to violence and lynching. In the last 4-5 years, the discrimination against Kurds, non-Muslim minorities, women wearing headscarves, those who try to live in accordance with the Islamic faith, and Alevis has started to be shown to immigrants, especially Syrians. In Turkey, as in the rest of the world, racist movements fuelled by this discrimination are growing stronger. AKP government and the opposition are united in their hostility towards immigrants It is impossible to look at any news source and not see a few attacks on migrants or racist articles. As an example, I looked at the daily bulletin of a website. There were two articles on the rising right and racism in Europe, and one racist column that said "people of Turkish origin are being sent, but Syrians are not". Sinan Oğan received 5.17 percent of the votes from 2 million 800 thousand people in the 14 May elections with his anti-immigrant propaganda. This vote rate opened the door for two men of the racist fascist movement (Oğan and Özdağ) to bargain for important positions in the two main alliances. As a result, before the second round Kılıçdaroğlu was able to decorate big cities with "Syrians will leave" banners. In his speech at the "International Goodness Awards" programme on 15 May, President Erdoğan said, "The opposition says, 'If we win the election, we will send Syrians away,' but we will not. We know what Ansar is. They came to Turkey from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan. Today they are coming from Ukraine. This country will always continue to be a refuge for the oppressed". Unfortunately, as soon as he won the election, the repatriation programme of Syrians was resumed. The new Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya keeps tweeting "Our fight against irregular migration will continue with determination and resolve". He is not even aware of the effect this sentence has on Syrians. The son of a Syrian Kurdish catering chef I know was caught in an identity check during the election, lawyers etc. were brought in and deportation was prevented, but he was sent to Kilis where he was registered. He has to live there without a job, far away from his family. The Kurdish chef comes to work every day praying not to be caught. He continues to stay in Istanbul to look after his family and the family of his deceased brother. I looked for a job in Kilis for months, but I couldn't find one, so we have to live here. His distress can be easily seen on his face. The Syrian Kurdish chief is just one of the tens of thousands of Syrians who have to live in big cities like Istanbul because they can find a job. Millions of Syrians who fled the war and Assad's dictatorship are watching with great fear as the promises made to them during the elections are not fulfilled. Even after the 6 February earthquake that affected at least one third of Syrians in Turkey, the government continued to crack down on Syrians. On 28 August, the Directorate of Migration Management issued a circular requiring all Syrians not registered in Istanbul to leave the city by 24 September. Migrants should be able to live in Turkey as equal citizens It is very important that migrants live in Turkey as equal citizens. The most important demand of all migrants is that the laws are applied equally to everyone. On the one hand, law enforcement officers and the Directorate of Migration Management define migrants as foreigners and see them as people who should be expelled from Turkey as soon as possible. Since the 2019 local elections, as the Asylum Seeker Rights Platform, we have held press conferences and met with almost all parties in the parliament to ensure that political parties do not use migrants in their election propaganda. On 22 February, we called on political parties at a press conference, saying "As we approach the general elections to be held in May, it is seen that most of the political parties have entered the orbit of negative discourse campaigns against all asylum seekers, especially Syrians. Unfortunately, after the last general elections, which turned into a process in which racism was fuelled in order to get votes, the government is now realising the opposition's election promise - as in the headline in Serbestiyet - and forcibly sending Syrians back. What will solve all these problems at the root is a mass anti-racist movement in solidarity with migrants, as in Europe. A mass anti-racist movement will show all of us what can be done for migrants and Turks to live together.
