With Fists and Knives, Mobs Attack Syrian Refugees in Turkey

Over the past two days, angry groups of men in a half-dozen cities in Turkey have turned on the Syrian refugees living among them, damaging their shops and cars and assaulting them with fists and knives.

Across the border in parts of northern Syria where Turkey holds sway, Syrians have confronted the Turkish soldiers in their midst, pelting their vehicles with rocks, tearing down Turkish flags and condemning them in street protests.

The scattered violence, which has left at least seven people dead in Syria, according to a war monitor, has exposed growing cracks in the coexistence between Syrians and Turks on both sides of their shared border. After years of generally peaceful relations, recent political shifts and deepening economic distress have brought tensions to the surface.

Many Turks have come to resent the 3.1 million Syrian refugees in their country and accuse them, with or without evidence, of fueling economic troubles that include low wages and persistent inflation that exceeded 75 percent in May.

And many Syrians who oppose the government of President Bashar al-Assad have gone from viewing Turkey as their greatest protector to fearing that it will abandon them. Support for the idea of sending Syrian refugees home has spread across Turkey’s political spectrum.

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who cut ties with Syria in 2011 and backed the rebels seeking to topple Mr. al-Assad, said last week he would not rule out meeting his former foe to try to restore ties.