ANKARA: Turkiye’s far-right, anti-refugee Victory (Zafer) Party has launched a fundraising campaign with the pledge that the money raised will be used to pay for one-way bus tickets to send all Syrian refugees home.
In a campaign video, the party asked supporters for the names of people they want to be sent back to Syria. It said it will buy tickets not only for the refugees but for those who support refugee rights in Turkiye.
“Ticket sales for Zafer Tourism’s one-way trips to Damascus have just begun,” the party’s founder, Umit Ozdag, said in a message posted on Twitter as he asked supporters to respond with the names of Syrians they wanted to make “early reservations” for.
The Victory Party has previously pledged to deport all Syrian refugees within a year if it gains power. But with its latest campaign, Ozdag is also targeting Turkish citizens who have adopted a pro-refugee stance, including journalist Nagehan Alci, by adding their names to a “persona non grata” list.
Syrian-Turkish journalist Ahmet Hamo was also targeted by the campaign, which featured a bus ticket with his name on it. Ozdag previously vowed to strip Hamo of his citizenship if Zafer takes power.
According to the UN, Turkiye hosts about 3.6 million Syrians displaced by the long-running civil war in their home country. The Victory Party was founded primarily on an anti-refugee platform and Ozdag often visits Syrian-run businesses telling them to leave the country as soon as possible. It recently published a video on YouTube, called Silent Invasion, to warn people about a supposed dystopian future for Turkiye in which Arabs outnumber Turks.
Ruhat Sena Aksener, the acting director of Amnesty International Turkiye, said many of the refugees and asylum seekers in Turkish camps live in constant fear of being sent back to the war-torn country they fled.
“Such discriminatory statements raised in public add to the fear of them being sent back, being discriminated against, and being exposed to racist threats and acts,” she told Arab News.
“The increase in physical attacks against refugees and immigrants with the rise of anti-refugee rhetoric is the clearest indicator of this.”
With presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for May in Turkiye, all political parties are taking positions on the refugee issue. According to the latest Turkiye Trends 2022 survey, conducted by Global Akademi, it is the third most important issue among Turkish citizens, behind the economy and terrorism.
Turkiye’s main opposition Republican People’s Party, also known as the CHP, has also committed to sending refugees back to Syria if it assumes power. CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said this would be done in a voluntary and dignified way, as required by the principles of international law, and that security guarantees about the safety of returnees be sought from the Syrian regime.
The ruling Justice and Development Party also supports the return of Syrian refugees to Turkish-controlled areas in northern Syria, as part of a process of political normalization with the regime of President Bashar Assad, and Turkish authorities have already deported thousands. The Defense Ministry recently said the return of refugees will be in accordance with UN principles of safe repatriation.
According to Begum Basdas, a human rights and migration researcher at the Center for Fundamental Rights at Hertie School in Berlin, the forcible return of refugees to Syria violates the non-refoulement principle of international law codified in the 1951 Refugee Convention, which means Turkiye cannot send anyone to a place they might face violations of their human rights.
“Furthermore, the Turkish legal framework on temporary protection of Syrians also includes articles that prohibit refoulement,” she told Arab News.
“That said, in recent years most political leaders have chosen to ignore the rule of law to get the upper hand in upcoming elections.”
Aksener agrees with this assessment and said: “According to international law, under the non-refoulement principle, it is forbidden for asylum seekers to be sent to countries where they face the possible danger of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, belonging to a particular social group or political opinion.”
Therefore any political campaign that promises or promotes such a plan breaches international law, she added.
“Such actions should be perceived as attempts to discriminate against refugees by increasing racism and xenophobia, and are considered acts against human rights. That’s unacceptable,” Aksener said.
Victory Party founder Ozdag recently said there are 13 million refugees in Türkiye without providing any data or proof to support of his claim, compared with the UN figure of about 3.6 million. Basdas said Ozdag’s figure is deliberately unrealistic, designed only to fuel xenophobia and fear among the Turkish public.
“This latest campaign of the Victory Party is against international law, and it also aims to target individuals and normalize any violent act against them,” she said.
“Racism and discrimination perpetrated by the Victory Party, branded as ‘love of the country,’ is actually a recipe for a future shaped by hatred, distrust and violence, not only toward migrants but to all citizens that stand by human rights and the rule of law in a country that has been in a steady democratic decay.”
In recent years, Basdas said, putting people’s lives at risk has become a political tool used to win elections by distracting voters from the real problems that lie elsewhere. The few people who take a stand against such tactics are targeted in an attempt to silence them. She also criticized European nations for failing to meet their obligations on the issue.
“Europe fails to address the lack of effective access to asylum, violations of the principle of non-refoulement, and the discriminatory attacks against refugees, as well as the pushbacks at the borders by designating Turkiye as a safe third country. This must change now,” she said.
Western countries have often praised Turkiye’s remarkable efforts in hosting Syrian refugees. However, experts have said that the West should assume more responsibility relating to this issue.
“States must fulfill their obligations to protect people in need of international protection, to respect their human rights, and to ensure that they remain in their territory in favorable conditions until a permanent solution is found. Policies should advocate ending (border) pushbacks,” Aksener said.
Basdas agrees and said: “The international community should increase resettlement commitments for Syrians from Turkiye and offer sustainable solutions to provide assistance to host this large population in safety.”
About 223,881 Syrians have Turkish citizenship and 126,786 of them are eligible to vote in the upcoming elections.
Far-right Turkish party raising funds to buy bus tickets to send Syrian refugees home
https://arab.news/293ra
Far-right Turkish party raising funds to buy bus tickets to send Syrian refugees home
- The Victory Party called for donations and said the money will pay for tickets to Syria not only for refugees but also those who support refugee rights
- Human rights experts said the party’s campaign is ‘against international law and it also aims to target individuals and normalize any violent act against them’
Syrian soldiers distance themselves from Assad in return for promised amnesty
- Lt. Col. Walid Abd Rabbo, who works with the new Interior Ministry, said the army has been dissolved and the interim government has not decided yet on whether those “whose hands are not tainted in blood” can apply to join the military again
DAMASCUS, Syria: Hundreds of former Syrian soldiers on Saturday reported to the country’s new rulers for the first time since Bashar Assad was ousted to answer questions about whether they may have been involved in crimes against civilians in exchange for a promised amnesty and return to civilian life.
The former soldiers trooped to what used to be the head office in Damascus of Assad’s Baath party that had ruled Syria for six decades. They were met with interrogators, former insurgents who stormed Damascus on Dec. 8, and given a list of questions and a registration number. They were free to leave.
Some members of the defunct military and security services waiting outside the building told The Associated Press that they had joined Assad’s forces because it meant a stable monthly income and free medical care.
The fall of Assad took many by surprise as tens of thousands of soldiers and members of security services failed to stop the advancing insurgents. Now in control of the country, and Assad in exile in Russia, the new authorities are investigating atrocities by Assad’s forces, mass graves and an array of prisons run by the military, intelligence and security agencies notorious for systematic torture, mass executions and brutal conditions.
Lt. Col. Walid Abd Rabbo, who works with the new Interior Ministry, said the army has been dissolved and the interim government has not decided yet on whether those “whose hands are not tainted in blood” can apply to join the military again. The new leaders have vowed to punish those responsible for crimes against Syrians under Assad.
Several locations for the interrogation and registration of former soldiers were opened in other parts of Syria in recent days.
“Today I am coming for the reconciliation and don’t know what will happen next,” said Abdul-Rahman Ali, 43, who last served in the northern city of Aleppo until it was captured by insurgents in early December.
“We received orders to leave everything and withdraw,” he said. “I dropped my weapon and put on civilian clothes,” he said, adding that he walked 14 hours until he reached the central town of Salamiyeh, from where he took a bus to Damascus.
Ali, who was making 700,000 pounds ($45) a month in Assad’s army, said he would serve his country again.
Inside the building, men stood in short lines in front of four rooms where interrogators asked each a list of questions on a paper.
“I see regret in their eyes,” an interrogator told AP as he questioned a soldier who now works at a shawarma restaurant in the Damascus suburb of Harasta. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to talk to media.
The interrogator asked the soldier where his rifle is and the man responded that he left it at the base where he served. He then asked for and was handed the soldier’s military ID.
“He has become a civilian,” the interrogator said, adding that the authorities will carry out their own investigation before questioning the same soldier again within weeks to make sure there are no changes in the answers that he gave on Saturday.
The interrogator said after nearly two hours that he had quizzed 20 soldiers and the numbers are expected to increase in the coming days.
Israel accuses Pope of ‘double standards’, after Gaza criticism
JERUSALEM: Israel accused Pope Francis of “double standards” Saturday after he condemned the bombing of children in Gaza as “cruelty” following an air strike that killed seven children from one family.
“The Pope’s remarks are particularly disappointing as they are disconnected from the true and factual context of Israel’s fight against jihadist terrorism — a multi-front war that was forced upon it starting on October 7,” an Israeli foreign ministry statement said.
“Enough with the double standards and the singling out of the Jewish state and its people.”
Gaza’s civil defense rescue agency had reported that an Israeli air strike killed 10 members of a family on Friday in the northern part of the Palestinian territory, including seven children.
“Yesterday they did not allow the Patriarch (of Jerusalem) into Gaza as promised. Yesterday children were bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war,” he told members of the government of the Holy See.
“I want to say it because it touches my heart.”
The Israeli statement said: “Cruelty is terrorists hiding behind children while trying to murder Israeli children; cruelty is holding 100 hostages for 442 days, including a baby and children, by terrorists and abusing them,” a reference to the Palestinian Hamas militants who attacked Israel and took hostages on October 7, 2023, triggering the Gaza war.
“Unfortunately, the Pope has chosen to ignore all of this,” the Israeli ministry said.
US military strikes Houthi targets in Yemen’s capital
- Missile storage and command/control facilities hit: CENTCOM
RIYADH: The US military command in the Middle East said on Sunday that it carried out strikes against Houthi missile storage and command-and-control facilities in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.
“CENTCOM forces conducted the deliberate strikes to disrupt and degrade Houthi operations, such as attacks against U.S. Navy warships and merchant vessels in the Southern Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb, and Gulf of Aden,” the command said on X, shortly after midnight local time.
The video released by the US military showed a jet taking off from a carrier.
“During the operation, CENTCOM forces also shot down multiple Houthi one way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles (OWA UAV) and an anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM) over the Red Sea.”
Videos on social media showed people fleeing large explosions in the capital, but Arab News could not immediately verify the authenticity of the footage.
The command said that US air and naval assets were used in the operation, including F/A-18s, adding the “strike reflects CENTCOM's ongoing commitment to protect U.S. and coalition personnel, regional partners, and international shipping.”
The Houthis, who control large parts of Yemen, seized the capital in 2014 and have been conducting drone and missile attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea in an effort to impose a naval blockade on Israel, who, for more than a year, has been carrying out a devastating war against Hamas in Gaza.
Earlier on Saturday, a Houthi missile hit Tel Aviv, injuring 16 people.
Syria’s SDF says five fighters killed in strikes by Turkish-backed forces
- Turkiye regards the PKK, YPG and SDF as terrorist groups
CAIRO: The US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said five of its fighters had been killed on Saturday in attacks by Turkish-backed forces on the city of Manbij in northern Syria.
Fighting in Manbij broke out after Bashar Assad was toppled nearly two weeks ago, with Turkiye and the Syrian armed groups it supports seizing control of the city from the Kurdish-led SDF on Dec. 9.
The SDF, an ally in the US coalition against Daesh militants, is spearheaded by the YPG — a group that Ankara sees as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have fought the Turkish state for 40 years.
Turkiye regards the PKK, YPG and SDF as terrorist groups.
The United States has been mediating to stop fighting between Turkiye and the Syrian Arab groups it supports, and the SDF.
The US State Department said on Wednesday a ceasefire around Manbij had been extended until the end of the week, but a Turkish defense ministry official said a day later there was no talk of a ceasefire deal with the SDF.
In Israeli-occupied south Syria, villagers feel abandoned
- Most villagers have cloistered themselves inside their homes since the troops arrived. A few look on through windows and from rooftops
QUNEITRA, Syria: In the towns and villages of southern Syria that Israel has occupied since the overthrow of longtime strongman Bashar Assad, soldiers and residents size each other up from a distance.
The main street of the village of Jabata Al-Khashab is largely deserted as a foot patrol of Israeli troops passes through it.
Most villagers have cloistered themselves inside their homes since the troops arrived. A few look on through windows and from rooftops.
It is the same story in nearby Baath City, named for the now suspended political party that ran Syria for more than 60 years until Assad’s ouster by Islamist-led rebels earlier this month.
The town’s main street has been heavily damaged by the passage of a column of Israeli tanks.
The street furniture has been reduced to mangled metal, aand broken off branches from roadside trees litter the highway.
“Look at all the destruction the Israeli tanks have caused to our streets and road signs,” said 51-year-old doctor Arsan Arsan.
“People around here are very angry about the Israeli incursion. We are for peace, but on condition that Israel pulls back to the armistice line.”
Israel announced on December 8 that its troops were crossing the armistice line and were occupying the UN-patrolled buffer zone that has separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights since 1974.
The announcement, which was swiftly condemned by the United Nations, came the same day that the rebels entered Damascus.
Israel said it was a defensive measure prompted by the security vacuum created by the Assad government’s abrupt collapse.
Israeli troops swiftly occupied much of the buffer zone, including the summit of Syria’s highest peak, Mount Hermon.
The Israeli military has since confirmed that its troops have also been operating beyond the buffer zone in other parts of southwest Syria.
At a security briefing on Mount Hermon on Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz spoke of the importance of “completing preparations... for the possibility of a prolonged presence” in the buffer zone.
He added that the 2,814-meter (9,232-foot) peak provided “observation and deterrence” against both Hezbollah in Lebanon and the new authorities in Damascus who “claim to present a moderate front but are affiliated with the most extreme Islamist factions.”
Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group that led the rebel overthrow of Assad, has its roots in Al-Qaeda and remains proscribed as a terrorist organization by several Western governments, even though it has sought to moderate its image in recent years.
On the road south from Damascus to the provincial capital Quneitra, an AFP correspondent saw no sign of the transitional government or its fighters. All of the checkpoints that had controlled access to the province for decades lay abandoned.
Quneitra’s streets too were largely deserted as residents stayed indoors, peeking out only occasionally at passing Israeli patrols.
Israeli soldiers have raised the Star of David on several hilltops overlooking the town.
HTS leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa has said that Israel’s crossing of the armistice line on the Golan “threatens a new unjustified escalation in the region.”
But he added in a statement late last week that “the general exhaustion in Syria after years of war and conflict does not allow us to enter new conflicts.”
That position has left many in the south feeling abandoned to fend for themselves.
“We are just 400 meters (yards) from the Israeli tanks... the children are scared by the incursion,” said Yassin Al-Ali, who lives on the edge of the village of Al-Hamidiyah, not far from Baath City.
He said that instead of celebrating their victory in Damascus, the transitional government and its fighters should come to the aid of Quneitra province.
“What’s happening here really should make those celebrating in Umayyad Square pause for a moment... and come here to support us in the face of the Israeli occupation,” Ali said.
