Press Release
Campaign of Attacks Against Syrian Muslims is Unacceptable!
(Translated)

Allegations of sexual harassment of a minor young girl by a minor Syrian immigrant boy caused tragic events in Kucukcekmece, Istanbul, on June 29, 2019. Based on these unsubstantiated allegations which were circulated on social media, a group of young people in the region attacked innocent Syrian students with knives, and ransacked Syrian-owned workplaces in their area. While the spokesman for the state of Istanbul in his statement said that the allegations are false, and legal procedures were applied to the participants in these events.

There has been an increase in the number of attacks in some Turkish cities, primarily in Istanbul, and hostility towards Syrians in general began to turn into incidents of assault and incitement. The statements of nationalist and secular politicians make matters worse, fuel strife, ignore the principle of individual responsibility, and render all migrants responsible for the crime of an individual. This mentality also holds that the economic crisis that Turkey is experiencing is caused by the Syrians. The speech of hatred and mischief has not been lost on the tongues of those who represent this mentality, which did not take an account of the brotherhood of the immigrants and supporters, which Islam taught us. They know very well that sexual harassment and abhorrent attacks occur in Turkey before Syrian Muslim immigrants came to Turkey. The hate speech and hostility of these people is originally an expression of their resentment and hatred of Islam and Muslims. If the murderous Assad displaces our Syrian brothers and sisters and deprives them of their possessions because they are Muslims, then these secularists and nationalists in Turkey move with the same mentality, presenting this abhorrent approach without reserve or shame.

And if these are the positions of those people, bearing hostility towards Islam and Muslims; then what do we say to the ruling party and its representatives in power, who seek the reinforcement of nationalism in recent times, and refrain from the position required to conduct enmity against those, and are silent about them the silence of graves?! Do those who raised the motto of the brotherhood of the “immigrants and supporters” when the Syrian revolution was at its peak, and who are now threatening to expel the Syrians, do they have a role in these campaigns of incitement and attacks? Does the defeat of those in the Istanbul elections have a role in this silence? The truth is that this policy of the Turkish government towards Syria, which integrates with the American policies, has led to disappointment and failure. The migration waves coming from Syria have not received the management that suits Muslims, and the society in Turkey was excluded from Islamic values ​​and Muslim brotherhood. It is normal for every people to have crimes and criminals, but charging the crime bill by an individual to his family or his people is far from the concepts of justice, truth and fairness. Those who abandon the rule of Islam unfortunately are judged to be distant from justice and humanity. The society that governs by the systems of Kufr has basically turned into a swamp dominated by bribery and corruption, with anomalies and aberrations spreading in it. When this secular rule and the corrupt system change and disappear, everything will change radically, with Allah’s permission.

(وَالَّذ۪ينَ تَبَوَّؤُ الدَّارَ وَالْا۪يمَانَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ يُحِبُّونَ مَنْ هَاجَرَ اِلَيْهِمْ)

“And [also for] those who were settled in al-Madinah and [adopted] the faith before them. They love those who emigrated to them.” [Al-Hashr: 9]

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Turkey