The Turkish presidential administration has denied reports of alleged tax exemption for Syrian refugees in the country.
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On Sunday, there were riots in the Turkish province of Kayseri after police detained a Syrian man in connection with violence against a child of Syrian origin, who is a relative of him. The child was handed over to the guardianship authorities, the man was arrested. Against the backdrop of the unrest, the Turkish presidential administration announced an attempt at provocations in order to disrupt peace and order in the republic. At the same time, the Syrian radio station Sham FM previously reported that in the areas of Afrin, Aazaz and Al-Bab in the north of Aleppo province, clashes occurred between Turkish troops and militants from a number of groups considered loyal to Ankara.
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“The claim made in one of the television programs that Syrians are exempt from taxes and do not pay VAT/property tax is not true. Syrian asylum seekers under temporary protection of Turkey do not have any tax exemptions or privileges. In addition, the relevant units regularly carry out the necessary tax audits,” the Center for Combating Disinformation under the Communications Directorate of the Turkish Presidential Administration said in a statement.
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The Turkish Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that in connection with the unrest in Kayseri, about 37% of messages on social networks were published by bots, and almost 70% of messages were written for the purpose of provocation. An investigation has been launched into 63 social media accounts, and the owners of ten have already been brought to justice.
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Law enforcement agencies detained almost 70 people who took part in the riots; Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said that Turkey is a rule of law state, and criminals receive deserved punishment. Yerlikaya called manifestations of xenophobia and violation of public order unacceptable. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the “poisonous” reasoning of the opposition one of the reasons for the incident.
