Somali business owners in Ankara handed deportation orders in ‘harassment campaign’

Over the last few years, Kizilay Square in the heart of Ankara has experienced a unique kind of gentrification.

The Turkish capital’s growing Somali community has established restaurants, cafes, clothing stores and consultancy businesses for bilateral trade here, slowly turning the decaying area into a vibrant neighbourhood.

However, the prosperity of a Somali-dominant neighbourhood has become a target of abuse in Turkey, where anti-immigrant sentiments are on the rise.

In April, Sozcu daily, a rightwing Kemalist newspaper known for its anti-immigrant coverage, featured this area in a report and put it on the radar of the nation