Passport information for 3.3 million Syrian refugees registered in Turkey was leaked on Telegram groups, containing names, phone numbers, addresses, and other essential details.
The data was published in Telegram groups by a user named “ayaklanistr” who claimed to possess the addresses of the Syrian nationals residing in Turkey and offered to share them.
Early on Friday, Turkish presidency of migration management acknowledged the leak but stated that the information does not match current data compiled by them.
“A comprehensive investigation has been initiated to determine the years to which this data belongs, from which source it was obtained, and on what date, in order to provide accurate information to the public,” the migration presidency said on X.
On Thursday night, the Turkish interior ministry announced that the owner of the account was a 14-year-old teenager.
“Upon investigation, it was determined that the administrator of the social media account is a 14-year-old named E.P. It was also understood that identity information of Syrian refugees under temporary protection was shared from the same account,” the ministry said in a statement on X.
Following the announcement, the interior ministry took over the account.
This follows a violent week marked by growing anti-Syrian sentiment across Turkey. Riots broke out on Sunday targeting Syrian homes and businesses in the central Kayseri province, where a Syrian man was accused of sexually harassing a child.
Footage on social media showed Turkish citizens setting fire to multiple locations.
In the videos, people can be heard shouting “We do not want any more Syrians.” Additionally, a hashtag has been trending on X in Turkish on Monday that translates to “I don’t want refugees in my country.”
On Tuesday, a 17-year-old Syrian teenager was stabbed to death by two motorcyclists in the southern Antalya province while he was walking in the street, local news outlet Graffiti Haber reported.
Roughly 3.2 million Syrian refugees who fled war and conflicts are currently living in Turkey under temporary protection status, according to the Turkish presidency of migration management.
Syrian nationals are occasionally subjected to racist and xenophobic attacks by nationalist Turks.
