CHP holds Erdoğan responsible for ‘refugee problem’ in Turkey

Duvar English

Turkish main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Spokesperson Deniz Yücel on July 3 held President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan responsible for “the refugee problem” in the country. 

Speaking after his party’s executive board meeting, Yücel said “The events in Kayseri have once again shown that the refugee problem is one of the main issues of our country that needs to be solved urgently. The refugee problem is now a survival issue for this country,” according to reporting from ANKA News Agency.

“The government is responsible for the grave events that started in Kayseri and spread to other provinces. In fact, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is personally responsible for the refugee problem in our country. The country cannot be governed with an understanding that knows from the opposition if a stone is moved in the country,” he said.

“(They say) The situation caused by a small group of people in Kayseri was caused by the poisonous rhetoric of the opposition. But it never, ever crosses their minds that they are pursuing a wrong foreign policy. It never even crosses their minds that we are where we are today as a result of letting anyone and everyone into the country. They don't even want to remember that there is a security weakness in our borders,” he added.

Yücel said the events that started in Kayseri were the result of the AKP’s policy of “fomenting civil war in the neighboring country and flooding the country with so many refugees.”

What happened?

In Kayseri province, many workplaces and vehicles belonging to Syrians were vandalized in the attacks that started after the news that a child was harassed by a Syrian man on June 30.

These attacks have continued in many provinces where Syrian refugees live.

For example, in Gaziantep, a group carrying Turkish flags vandalized the vehicles of Syrians by shouting takbir, and a Syrian youth walking on the road was stabbed.