President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long sought to weaponize refugees as a tool in both his domestic and foreign policies.

As Syrian President Bashar Assad’s bombardment sent Syrians fleeing across the Turkish border in search of safety, Erdogan’s government would offer citizenship to Arabs who agreed to settle in predominantly Kurdish regions and Sunnis who would settle in predominantly Alevi areas. That was an offer many wealthier Syrian Arabs could not refuse even if it meant increasing ethnic and sectarian tensions with their new neighbors.