The Dangerous Dance: Syrians in the New Year’s Eve

Seven years after the beginning of the refugee question, the situation of Syrians in the diaspora is still fragile to an extent that a happy and short dance made by Syrians in ‘other people’s cities’ is considered to be a danger

Since the emergence of the Syrian diaspora, Syrians have been at the center of public storms in their host countries on a number of different occasions, including festive ones such as New Year’s Eve. During the last night of 2018, a group of young Syrian men stirred Turkish public opinion after gathering in Istanbul’s famous Taksim Square by dancing and chanting loudly: “Syria! Syria!” while raising the Syrian revolutionary flag.

The video of the incident was taken by a young Turkish man, a sympathizer of Turkish right-wing nationalist parties, and was posted on Twitter with the hashtag “#ÜlkemdeSuriyeliİstemiyorum” which means “I don’t want Syrians in my country”. This hashtag has been frequently used as a rallying cry among many Turkish people angered by several incidents related to the Syrian refugees in Turkey, which tend to take place especially during public holidays.