Syrians in Turkey are being treated badly – but so are the Turkish people

Ankara says it has spent $40bn since 2011 on helping its ​neighbour to manage the refugee crisis

A flood of stories are emerging about Turkey’s alleged mistreat of the perhaps 4 million Syrian refugees in their midst. Syrians in Istanbul and other cities say they’re feeling the heat as a rough economy frustrates Turks who fear refugees are taking jobs and driving down wages while changing the character of their neighbourhoods.

Turkish officials have vowed to crack down on Syrian and other refugees who don’t have their papers in order – especially those registered to live in smaller towns but who have gravitated to the bigger cities. Turkish officials, including the interior minister Suleyman Soylu, who invited international journalists to a lengthy briefing last week, insisted Syria is following international standards and law. The Turks also claim that no one is being deported back to Syria against their will, which is likely untrue.

But it’s worth putting the Syrian refugee crisis into a broader context. Turkey is suffering disproportionately as a result of the Syrian war, taking in millions of refugees as a result of a policy and security debacle that is a global responsibility. Neither Turkey nor Syria’s neighbours Lebanon and Jordan have the capacity to take in so many people, and they are bursting at the seams. The European Union agreed to cough up €6bn (£5.4bn) to help Turkey manage the refugee crisis, but that’s only a fraction of the $40bn (£32.6bn) Ankara says it has spent since 2011.