By Hafsa Mursal
Somalis living in the Turkish capital, Ankara, have recently been targeted and harassed by the Turkish police, according to a report released by a London-based Organization.
In April, Sozcu daily, a rightwing Kemalist newspaper known for its anti-immigrant coverage, featured this area in a report and put it on the radar of the nation.
Under the headline “Ankara’s hub became Somalia”, the report said businesspeople and asylum seekers from the East African country had completely transformed two streets in Kizilay “into their own country”.
The Turkish capital’s growing Somali community has established restaurants, cafes, clothing stores and consultancy businesses for bilateral trade here, slowly turning the decaying area into a vibrant neighbourhood.
However, the prosperity of a Somali-dominant neighbourhood has become a target of abuse in Turkey, where anti-immigrant sentiments are on the rise.
Mohamed Isse Abdullahi, owner of a restaurant in Kizilay, said that on September 8th, Turkish police began targeting Somali small businesses.
‘We learned that all of us, who had residence permits and legally owned businesses here in Turkey, were going to be deported’ said Mohamed Isse Abdullahi.
Days later, police arrested Somali businessmen, including Abdullahi, first detained them at a police station and then at the capital’s police headquarters.
There is currently a rampant anti-refugee attitude within Turkey, which hosts nearly five million refugees, mainly from Syria.
Things started to escalate for Somalis in the country after riots erupted in August in another part of Ankara, where Turkish citizens damaged businesses and houses owned by Syrian refugees after reports that a refugee had killed a teenager in a park.
From then on, sightings of police in uniforms became commonplace at Somali-owned businesses, despite them being legally established and operating venues.
“First, 15 police officers showed up and started to search everywhere on 8 September,” Mohamed Isse Abdullahi, a Somali cafe owner, told Middle East Media.The plight of Somalis in Turkey comes amid growing anti-immigrant sentiment in Turkish society.
