ARTE Distribution

Turkey is the country that hosts the largest number of refugees in the world: more than four million of them, most of whom are Syrians who came to this large country bordering Syria more than 10 years ago, when the war broke out.

Last year, in response to the opposition's promises to send all Syrians back across the border, President Erdogan declared: "[Turkey] will protect until the end these brothers who fled the war and took refuge in our country" no matter what Kemal Kilicdaroglu (the candidate to face Erdogan) claims. But since then, the Turkish president's popularity has dropped to lowest level and xenophobia is on the rise. Therefore, last summer, Erdogan announced a "voluntary return" plan for one million Syrians. His attempt at reconciliation with the Damascus regime is also a way of countering the opposition as the May 14 elections look uncertain for the man who has been ruling Turkey for 20 years.
The country is undergoing a seemingly endless financial crisis and President Erdogan's popularity has been dropping for months. Syrian immigration has thus become an electoral issue, and the Syrians in Turkey, are the scapegoats of a country in pain. Over the past two years, riots and looting have broken out in Syrian-inhabited areas of Istanbul and Ankara. Racist crimes have been increasing as well. The February 6 earthquake has further complicated their situation. Most of them have settled in the region bordering Syria, which was most affected by the natural disaster. Sophie Nivelle-Cardinale's documentary follows Syrians facing a very uncertain future in a Turkey that is in the middle of an election campaign.