Turkish President Erdogan blasts 'inhuman' opposition policies towards Syrian refugees

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticised opposition policies towards Syrian refugees calling them “inhuman” and “un-Islamic”, a couple of days before the country goes to the polls on Sunday.

Speaking at a question-and-answer event at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, he said: “There are doctors, engineers, and lawyers among the Syrian refugees who came to Turkey. Is it reasonable for us to expel them?”

Turkish opposition presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP) has vowed to deport the 3.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey within two years.

Opinion polls have shown that Kilicdaroglu and Erdogan have almost equal levels of support among the Turkish public, with Kilicdaroglu having a slight lead.

“This is an inhuman and immoral and more importantly un-Islamic,” Erdogan said.

Erdogan has previously said that 500,000 Syrian refugees have returned “voluntarily” to Syria and that his government plan to return a million more.

Human rights groups have accused his government however of forcibly and arbitrarily returning Syrian refugees.

During the event, Erdogan claimed that Turkey had built 100,000 houses in northern Syria, much of which is controlled by pro-Turkish Syrian rebel groups, for Syrian refugees to return to.

Syrian refugees have been a major issue in the Turkish election, with politicians scapegoating them for Turkey’s current economic woes.

During the event, Erdogan rubbished opposition claims that Syrian students were receiving preferential treatment at Turkish schools and universities.

Syrian analysts fear that persecution of refugees could increase following the election, regardless of who wins.