A Syrian boy pushes a pram past Fatih mosque in Istanbul. Millions of Syrians live in Turkey at the moment. AP Photo
A Syrian boy pushes a pram past Fatih mosque in Istanbul. Millions of Syrians live in Turkey at the moment. AP Photo
A Syrian boy pushes a pram past Fatih mosque in Istanbul. Millions of Syrians live in Turkey at the moment. AP Photo
A Syrian boy pushes a pram past Fatih mosque in Istanbul. Millions of Syrians live in Turkey at the moment. AP Photo


In Turkey, foreigners are facing a new reality


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November 01, 2021

What does it tell us about a country when foreign ambassadors advising their host state on a judicial matter and refugees playfully teasing their host citizens on social media receive the same response from the government? That Turkey’s in the mood for some “me-time”.

About a decade ago, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sought to position himself as a Muslim leader and champion of the persecuted, his country may have been more open to outsiders than any country on Earth. In the years after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, as many as five million refugees flowed into the country.

About a million continued on their way to Europe, sparking the 2015-16 refugee crisis, while nearly four million stayed and set about building new lives. They were far from alone in their choice of sanctuary. Nearly 200,000 Afghans also fled their war-torn homeland and found refuge in Turkey, which also welcomed thousands of exiled Muslim Brotherhood members from the region, as well as Uighurs, the Turkic Muslim minority from China's Xinjiang province.

Living in Istanbul in the mid-2010s, I wrote for a number of US outlets about the wave of foreign journalists, activists and refugees that had made Turkey a beacon of hope with a golden opportunity to integrate the new arrivals and emerge as an assured, immigrant-friendly state.

Despite the ground shifting, this reputation has stuck.

Last year, The Guardian argued that Istanbul had won back its crown as the heart of the Muslim world, while just a few months ago France’s Monde Diplo described the former Ottoman capital as the home of Arabs.

In reality, the tide began to turn in early 2019, when the main opposition CHP rode to landmark victories in several mayoral votes on the argument that less government spending on refugees would have curbed unemployment. By 2020, CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu was vowing that, once in office, his party would send all Syrians back home. Mr Erdogan, meanwhile, was laying out plans to safely return two million Syrians to their homeland.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, seen here at the G20 in Rome, is under pressure to send Syrian refugees back. AFP
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, seen here at the G20 in Rome, is under pressure to send Syrian refugees back. AFP

Xenophobia has since taken root. In August, rumours that Syrians had killed a Turkish youth spurred an angry mob of locals to assault dozens of Syrian homes and businesses in Ankara. Several hundred thousand Syrians have been resettled in their homeland in the past two years, with hundreds reportedly forcibly returned. The Turkish government has nearly finished a massive wall along its border with Iran, following widespread anger in response to the steady stream of Afghan arrivals this summer.

There are countless smaller examples of this shift, from Afghan interpreters for Turkish forces waiting for evacuation from Afghanistan to Uighur and Turkmen activists who fear deportation.

But two key incidents have dominated headlines of late. The first was Mr Erdogan’s threat to expel 10 western ambassadors for urging Ankara to release jailed philanthropist Osman Kavala. After a 48-hour standoff, the row was resolved diplomatically.

Days later, however, a viral video emerged detailing a street scene in which a Turkish man denounces a Syrian woman for having an easier life than he and his compatriots. “I can't eat bananas,” he said as a crowd gathered, “while you buy them by the kilogram.”

Bemused Syrians turned to social media in response, posting dozens of videos on TikTok and other platforms. In one, a ninja breaks into a home filled with luxury items but steals only a bowl of bananas. In another, Syrians working at a barbershop act as if it’s perfectly normal to go about their day munching on bananas.

Again, the Turkish government responded with outrage, vowing, with a straight face, that seven Syrians would be deported for provocative banana eating. Pro-government columnists denounced Syrians as having “abandoned their fatherland” only to launch a campaign mocking Turks’ economic hardship.

Turkey is still home to the world’s largest refugee population, at around five million people, and has of late been facing high inflation, few jobs and a steep decline in the lira. Turkey’s currency is worth so little that scrap dealers have reportedly begun melting down coins because the bits of copper and nickel have more value: minting a half-lira coin is now said to cost two-thirds of a lira.

During such times, it’s understandable if Turks – like the party host turning to his fellow revellers with weary eyes as dawn breaks – have had enough of all these guests. But the reality is that Syrians face just as much hardship.

It’s true that many working-class Turks have faced fewer employment opportunities due to the presence of so many Syrians. Yet, because so few Syrians have work permits, the vast majority are forced to work in the informal economy where they face potential exploitation, working long hours with no insurance for minuscule pay. More importantly, they have lost their homes and the world in which they were raised.

And despite reports to the contrary, their homeland remains an unwelcoming place. Last year, Turkey dispatched thousands of troops to Syria’s north-western Idlib province to avoid the prospect of as many as two million more Syrian refugees. If Syria is safe, why would so many Syrians be rushing for the exit? Now Ankara is said to be planning its fourth Syrian incursion, underscoring again the extent to which its neighbour remains unsafe for return.

If they had been expelled, those 10 western ambassadors would have been just fine (though Turkey-West relations would surely have suffered). Syrians would not be so lucky. As detailed last week by Human Rights Watch, returnees to Bashar Al Assad’s Syria regularly face arbitrary detention, torture, kidnapping and forced disappearance.

Everybody tires of hosting duties. But if Turkey and its weary citizens are unable to muster a bit more empathy – to take a minute to envision their country eviscerated by war, their loved ones dead and their lives reliant on the warmth of others – darker days surely loom.

The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Power: 510hp at 9,000rpm
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Price: From Dh801,800
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Company%20profile
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The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm

Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm

Transmission: 9-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh117,059

How to play the stock market recovery in 2021?

If you are looking to build your long-term wealth in 2021 and beyond, the stock market is still the best place to do it as equities powered on despite the pandemic.

Investing in individual stocks is not for everyone and most private investors should stick to mutual funds and ETFs, but there are some thrilling opportunities for those who understand the risks.

Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, says the 20 best-performing US and European stocks have delivered an average return year-to-date of 148 per cent, measured in local currency terms.

Online marketplace Etsy was the best performer with a return of 330.6 per cent, followed by communications software company Sinch (315.4 per cent), online supermarket HelloFresh (232.8 per cent) and fuel cells specialist NEL (191.7 per cent).

Mr Garnry says digital companies benefited from the lockdown, while green energy firms flew as efforts to combat climate change were ramped up, helped in part by the European Union’s green deal. 

Electric car company Tesla would be on the list if it had been part of the S&P 500 Index, but it only joined on December 21. “Tesla has become one of the most valuable companies in the world this year as demand for electric vehicles has grown dramatically,” Mr Garnry says.

By contrast, the 20 worst-performing European stocks fell 54 per cent on average, with European banks hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic, while cruise liners and airline stocks suffered due to travel restrictions.

As demand for energy fell, the oil and gas industry had a tough year, too.

Mr Garnry says the biggest story this year was the “absolute crunch” in so-called value stocks, companies that trade at low valuations compared to their earnings and growth potential.

He says they are “heavily tilted towards financials, miners, energy, utilities and industrials, which have all been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic”. “The last year saw these cheap stocks become cheaper and expensive stocks have become more expensive.” 

This has triggered excited talk about the “great value rotation” but Mr Garnry remains sceptical. “We need to see a breakout of interest rates combined with higher inflation before we join the crowd.”

Always remember that past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Last year’s winners often turn out to be this year’s losers, and vice-versa.

'How To Build A Boat'
Jonathan Gornall, Simon & Schuster

GOLF’S RAHMBO

- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)

What is a black hole?

1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull

2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight

3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge

4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own

5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed

Updated: November 01, 2021, 4:00 AM`