Millions of Syrians who found shelter in Turkey from the violence that has raged in their country since the start of the civil war there in 2011 are now facing growing hostility from their Turkish hosts amid a sharp economic downturn exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The brewing resentment toward an estimated 3.7 million Syrian refugees turned violent in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Wednesday night as hundreds of locals chanting slurs swarmed to the working-class suburb of Altindag and embarked on a vandalism spree, overturning cars, shattering windows and looting shops said to be owned by Syrians.
At least 76 people were detained in connection with the rampage, which was triggered by the death of an 18-year old Turkish man, Emirhan Yalcin. The teen was stabbed in a brawl between Syrian refugees in Altindag, a stronghold of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).
