Riots break out after alleged child harassment in central Turkey

Dozens of foreign-owned shops and homes in Turkey's central Kayseri province were destroyed earlier Monday following allegations that a Syrian national abused a 7-year-old Syrian child.

The riots broke out on Sunday evening after IA, 26, identified only by his initials, was caught sexually abusing MA, his uncle's 7-year-old daughter, in a public toilet in Melikgazi district of Kayseri.

An angry crowd took to the streets in several neighborhoods of Melikgazi, seeking to catch the alleged attacker, but damaged workplaces and threw stones at foreigners' homes and vehicles.

Dozens of police, emergency crews and firefighters were dispatched to the scene as the crowd set fire to several shops and an overturned car.

Police intervened with tear gas and 14 officers and a firefighter were injured as they struggled to disperse the crowd, but the streets were calm and deserted by morning.

Kayseri Governor Gökmen Çiçek called for calm from the balcony of an apartment overlooking the street.

“I understand your anger and I know that this is a very despicable incident. As your governor, I promise you that such an outrage will not happen again,” Çiçek told the crowd. “Please, no one here should be hurt.”

Kayseri Police Chief Atanur Aydın also pledged to “do everything possible” to deport the suspect and his family.

“We have received the message and I promise to come back here a week later to tell you what we have done in this matter. Please take your families and go home.”

According to Anadolu Agency (AA), nine people, including the suspect and the victim's relatives, were transferred to the provincial detention center. Later, a Syrian national was detained on charges related to the abuse.

The Kayseri Attorney General's Office said an investigation was underway into the incident and into social media users who shared provocative messages throughout the incident.

The Ministry of Family and Social Services confirmed that the child, his mother and siblings have been placed under state protection and have begun receiving psychological support.

A Kayseri court also restricted the investigation and ordered a broadcast ban on the case “to protect the victim and her family and curb the increase in social incidents following the incident.”

The chairman of the Good Party (IP), a Turkish nationalist opposition party, Müsavat Dervişoğlu, however, has been supportive of violence, saying in a message on X that “this problem, which has now gone beyond a silent and forbidden occupation, is on the verge of becoming real destruction.”

Calling refugees an “existential threat to national security” and saying the Turkish government is “driving Turkey to the brink,” the PI leader called for a “common solution and political will to act on this issue.”

Growing far-right anti-refugee sentiments have increased the risk of violence against immigrants in Turkey in recent years, where many refugees have been victims of attacks in various cities across the country due to rumors that they were involved in cases of rape or murder against the local population. population.

Turkey hosts more than 4 million refugees – more than any other country in the world – including 3.6 million Syrians who fled the civil war that began in 2012 and have been granted temporary protection status.

The IP was among other opposition parties such as the secular Republican People's Party (CHP) and the ultra-nationalist Victory Party (ZP) that have stoked anti-refugee sentiments in Turkey, targeting Syrian asylum seekers and irregular migrants in particular ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections in May last year, and even blaming immigrants for the country's worst economic crisis in recent years.

Former CHP leader and presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu led a widespread campaign to send Syrians home, sparking concern among many migrants in the country about a mass expulsion.

Although Turkey has received significant migration following the war between Russia and Ukraine, Syrians are mainly blamed for the problems, including housing and rent issues. Experts say anti-Arab sentiment historically has its roots in ultra-secular circles.

Turkey has so far repatriated more than 554,000 Syrians to areas of northern Syria with new infrastructure and housing, where Ankara-backed opposition forces are in control, but PKK/YPG terrorists also occupy large swathes of territory and threaten the local population.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan advocates for a political solution to the Syrian crisis and the dignified and voluntary return of Syrians.