(Reuters) – Turkey has launched an investigation into an opposition mayor’s comments about Syrians, including his claims that he unlawfully revoked some of their business licences in his northwestern district of Bolu.
Mayor Tanju Ozcan talked about the measures he said he took against Syrian residents of his district on a news programme that aired on Saturday, including the removal of Arabic language business signs and the revocations of business licenses.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said on Sunday that the Bolu Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office “opened an investigation into the Bolu Mayor over his remarks regarding Syrians in our country.” He did not specify the remarks being probed.
However, Ozcan, of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), said on Sunday on social media website X “I said and did what I did regarding the refugees, taking the consequences into consideration. I am ready to pay the price for this.”
In his comments on the news programme on Saturday he said the Syrians he targeted “might have won” had they challenged his moves in the administrative court.
Syrians have faced bouts of anti-migrant sentiment and even violence in Turkey in recent years.
More than 3 million Syrians migrated to neighbouring Turkey after the outbreak of civil war in Syria 13 years ago. A rebellion last month ousted former president Bashar al-Assad from Damascus, leading to a rise in those returning home.
(Reporting by Canan Sevgili; Editing by Jonathan Spicer, Daren Butler and Christian Schmollinger)
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