The attacks on Syrian refugees in Ankara demonstrated the frustration of Turkish society towards migrants, and a new migration flow from Afghanistan could aggravate the situation, writes Filippo Cicciu in his article on Osservatorio Balcani e Causaso Transeuropa.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remains the most popular politician in Turkey even after declining support, but his welcoming statements to migrants do not find strong support even among his own constituency. According to him, a new wave of migrants from Afghanistan will become a new political challenge for him.

In mid-August, mobs attacked Syrian homes and businesses in the suburb of Altyndag, near the capital, Ankara. They raged all night. Two days earlier, two young Turks were wounded in a fight with the Syrians, one of them died. Two Syrian citizens were arrested on charges of first-degree murder.

Hundreds of people stormed the Altyndag Onder and Battalgazi neighborhoods, looting Syrian businesses and terrorizing families before security forces took control of the situation. Turkish authorities detained 76 people on suspicion of involvement in the terrorist attacks.

In 2020, 125,000 Afghans applied for asylum in Turkey, writes with reference to UN statistics. However, according to estimates of some experts, this number may exceed half a million.