Opposition set to send refugees back to Syria including the ones born in Turkey

As anti-immigrant feeling rises in Turkey home to more than 4 million Syrian refugees, the opposition is set to send them back, including the ones born in Turkey, said Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the CHP (Republican People’s Party) 

“More than 700 thousand of our Syrian brothers and sisters were born in this country. This brings great wealth”, the Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said over the weekend. 

“Yes, babies are the greatest wealth of every nation. These babies are the wealth of Syria” replied Kilicdaroglu, one of the possible candidates against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in next year’s elections.

The ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party) is facing a big challenge from the opposition parties which claim the refugees are a burden on the country struggling with a spiralling cost-of-living crisis. 

Kilicdaroglu said he will reestablish ties with the Syrian regime when the opposition takes over and receive a 100% guarantee from Syrian President Bashar al Assad over the safety of refugees before sending them to Syria.

CHP is also under pressure of losing votes as hardliners from the anti-immigrant Victory Party secured over 2 percent of the votes in just one year campaigning under the slogan “We will come, refugees will leave”.