Syrian refugees in Turkey express worry ahead of crucial vote

Despite the focus in this latest part of the campaign on pledging to force foreigners – or at least Syrians - to leave the country, a Metropoll survey conducted in early April found that only 2.2% of Turkish voters deemed refugees the country's "most important problem".

A whopping 56% instead said that the dire state of the economy was the issue that needs to be addressed.

Syrians wistful for past welcome

"Turkey was a place of safety and comfort for me," said a younger Syrian man, who was 16 when the conflict still ongoing started across the border.

"I miss the former Turkey that welcomed and defended refugees and gave them the safety they needed.

Several longstanding Syrian contacts of this Al Majalla journalist including university professors and highly educated Syrians - essentially, those who have long been able to afford to find a way to leave but had previously chosen not to – have in recent months somehow found their way to Europe and said they are requesting asylum there.

The EU border agency reportedly detected 330,000 irregular border crossings into the bloc last year, a 64% rise on the previous year. Most of those entering were Syrians, Afghans and Tunisians.

This young man is also considering trying to find a way to do the same, though this is not really what he wants.

"Almost two years ago, discrimination against refugees in general and Syrians" especially began to be seen more frequently, he said, which "led to the start of killings and assaults targeting Syrians."

"But the Turkish people were not like that," he repeated. "They were a people who welcomed refugees until racist rhetoric appeared and began to affect a small segment of society." 

Now, however, the main presidential candidates "contradict each other in everything except for [on the issue of] refugees. Both of them make promises to return Syrian refugees to their country and restore diplomatic relations with" Syria, despite President Bashar al-Assad remaining in power.

"Watching these elections is mental torment for me," he added sadly.

Young Turks want religion out of politics

Some younger Turks from religious families but who now say religion plays little to no real role in their lives say they are voting simply to get Erdogan out.

They don't actually care about what pledges the opposition makes, one told Al Majalla in the week prior to the 28 May runoff.

One man in his 30s who had attended an Imam Hatip religious school – as did Erdogan - said he had initially been planning to vote for ultranationalist Ogan in the first round but ended up voting for Kilicdaroglu since he thought this would give him a greater chance at winning.

He added that whenever the subject of voting for anyone other than Erdogan comes up, however, his parents say, "Don't you remember 28 February?"

"They don't want that to happen again," he said.

The reference is to what Daily Sabah once called the 1997 "post-modern coup" and a "scar on the psyche of the Turkish nation".

The "February 28 Memorandum" issued by the Turkish military at that time was a series of resolutions against what it saw as "rising Islamist ideology".

It included the shutting down of Imam Hatip schools and the banning of "women wearing headscarves from entering any public buildings, including schools and universities."

This ban caused millions of young women to either give up their education or suffer while trying to receive a proper one.

Female teachers were also dismissed from their jobs if they refused to remove their headscarves and the abhorred practice of 'persuasion rooms' was launched in universities, where headscarf-wearing students would be 'persuaded' to remove their headscarves amid threats of expulsion from the school.

Women wearing headscarves were also not permitted to work," according to an article by Daily Sabah published on the 24th anniversary.

Five years later, in 2002, Erdogan was elected for the first time.

The Turkish man - who is in his 30s, has a university degree and has travelled extensively abroad - said that he frequently argues with many fellow former Imam Hatip students on the subject of the current president and what is best for the future of the country.

On the issue of refugees, he said "women, kids and older people" should be welcomed but young men should not be allowed in, claiming "they are not refugees, they [come here to] enjoy life" and that they distort "the demography of the country".

Religious areas of Istanbul

Having received almost 50% of the vote in the first round and seen as likely to win the second round, Erdogan retains a great deal of popularity in many areas of this cosmopolitan, Europe-leaning city.

Even in districts known for a high concentration of cafes popular with affluent, liberal Westerners there are large banners across some of the streets with Erdogan's photo and local youth sections proudly proclaiming their support for him.

Major streets nearby are plastered with posters of Kilicdaroglu's bespectacled visage.

But wandering through a popular street market in a less affluent area a few days prior to the runoff, only photos of Erdogan were lovingly propped up on tables, hung across streets or on buildings. A few were pasted onto walls and wooden surfaces.

And while many Syrians believe that whoever wins will be under immense pressure to "force refugees out", some think a win by Erdogan might result in less discriminatory rhetoric and government decisions based more on Islamic principles – and thus, possibly, the only hope they have of not having to uproot their lives once again in the immediate future.