Going bananas: Turkey deports Syrians who shared images of them eating bananas

 

Turkey is deporting at least seven Syrians for “provocatively” eating bananas in images shared on social media, Bloomberg reports.

The alleged “provocation” came after a Turkish citizen complained that he can’t afford bananas while refugees can.

“You’re living more comfortably. I can’t eat banana, you are buying kilograms of banana,” said a Turkish man as he chided a female Syrian student in an October 17 video taken in Istanbul.

A Turkish woman then joined in, accusing the Syrians of enjoying lavish lifestyles in Turkey rather than going back home to fight, dismissing the student’s explanation that she has nowhere to return to.

Following the incident, a trend on social media began in which Syrian refugees posted photos and videos of themselves eating bananas in a move intended on mocking the Turkish citizen's complaint.

“Seven foreign nationals have been rounded up in a probe over the provocative social media posts and they will be processed for deportation,” Turkey’s migration authority said in a statement quoted by Bloomberg.

Some four million Syrians who fled their country’s civil war have for the most part lived peacefully side by side with Turks for several years. The government, however, is trying to contain an anti-immigrant sentiment that has been rising nationwide.