GENT –
Tensions between Turks and Kurds continue to flare in Ghent. The window of a Kurdish bakery was destroyed in the Bloemekenswijk on Thursday morning. Throughout the night, 22 people were arrested, half of them minors, and knives and Molotov cocktails were seized.
Laura Moens and Sander Luyten
Thursday, March 28, 2024 at 11:21 AM
The Kurdish Turk Sefik Seyfettin (49) has been running the Sila bakery in the Frans van Ryhovelaan for 22 years. The business is a household name in the Bloemekenswijk and in addition to Ghent residents, many Turks also come to buy their bread there. There have never been any problems before, until last night.
Around 2 o’clock the manager’s brother was working at the back of the bakery when he suddenly heard a huge knock. “Those were people who had smashed a window,” says Kocabey Seyfettin (25), the son of the manager. “Witnesses saw five or six young people running away.”
© LMD
The baker’s family is surprised that they are being targeted. “We are middlemen who have nothing to do with the whole situation between Turks and Kurds. We have no fear, there are occasional outbreaks, but we are surprised that the tensions continue like this.”
Minors
It was also restless in other places in Ghent during the night from Wednesday to Thursday. The police arrested a total of 22 people, mainly young people, half of whom were minors. “The atmosphere was grim. the suspects clearly had the intention to disrupt public order or commit legal crimes,” says police spokesman Matto Langeraert. “Weapons such as knives and Molotov cocktails were also found.”
Striking: the police say that reports are coming in that indicate a further polarization of the situation in Ghent. “Young people of Turkish origin are ready to intervene and there are reports that Kurds from abroad and armed would sooner or later descend on Ghent,” says police spokesperson Langeraert. “People of Ghent with Turkish and Kurdish sub-identities should not allow themselves to be incited to harm each other and the city.”
Cafe destroyed
The atmosphere between Turks and Kurds has been tense in Ghent since Thursday, when an unauthorized Kurdish New Year’s party was taking place at Dok Noord. This led to tensions with Ghent residents of Turkish origin and the police had to separate the hotheads.
On Monday, a group of about fifty masked men appeared at the gate of the city hall, just after the city council. They carried Turkish flags and chanted slogans against the Kurdish PKK. In the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, a café on Bevrijdingslaan was destroyed by a group of Turkish men. Anti-Kurdish slogans were also shouted at that time.