Turkish, Syrian, and Arab activists and politicians have launched a social media campaign in connection with the kicking of a 70-year-old Syrian woman in the southern Turkish state of Gaziantep.
On Monday evening, social media users posted a video showing an old Syrian woman named Leila Mohammed being kicked in the face by a Turkish national, named Sakir Cakir. Cakir kicked Mohammed on the grounds that she was abducting children, which has not been proven by Turkish officials.
These scenes were reposted on social media by Syrian and Turkish activists under the hashtag #SakirCakirTutuklansin to demand Cakir’s arrest so that he can be brought to justice.
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Al-Jazeera presenter and Saudi journalist Ali al-Dhafiri tweeted a picture of Mohammed on his personal Twitter account, saying: “This shows the world’s disdain for freedom.”
The Turkish poet Dursun Ali Erzincanli said that he could not post the video on his account because of the scene’s brutality. “I could not publish the video, the oppressed only has God, a woman was kicked and mentally disturbed.”
The leader of the Turkish opposition Workers’ Party, Ercument Akdeniz, noted that the issue of hatred and racism is not resolved by adopting the hashtag #SakirCakirTutuklansin; it only occurs when the sources of anti-refugee hate speech are addressed in Turkey.
Turkish columnist Servet Beki blamed the rhetoric of Victory Party leader Umit Ozdag, who is known for his hostility towards refugees in Turkey.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
