Mayor visits elderly Syrian woman after unprovoked attack by Turkish man

Following a video of an elderly Syrian woman getting kicked in the face by a Turkish man in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep, the mayor of the city paid her a visit.

Earlier reports stated that a Turkish guy had been detained after the violent attack was recorded on camera and the video footage went viral.

The woman, named Leila Mohammed, 70, is seen sitting on a bench as a group of males speaking Turkish approach her in the footage. One of them kicks her in the face, injuring her and forcing her to scream and cover her eye with one hand. Sakir Cakir, 39, was subsequently apprehended and identified.

The event sparked an outpouring of support, with letters addressed to the Syrian woman and others urging the Turkish authorities to intervene against the perpetrator.

Many Syrians and Turkish social media users used hashtags like #SakirCakirTutuklansin (Arrest Sakir Cakir) to demonstrate sympathy with Leila, with many Syrians and Turkish social media users sharing photographs of themselves covering one eye like her.

The mayor of Gaziantep province, Davut Gul, on Tuesday shared photos of his visit to the elderly woman on Twitter, saying in Turkish: “We stand with the oppressed against the oppressor.”

Leyla teyzemizi darp eden kişi tutuklandı.

Hastaneye yatırılarak kontrolleri ve tedavisi başlatıldı.

Eşim ve mesai arkadaşlarımızla birlikte teyzemizi ziyaret ederek Aziz milletimizin geçmiş olsun dileklerini ilettik.

Zalimin karşısında mazlumun yanındayız🇹🇷 pic.twitter.com/3NYMkkAZ2L

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— Davut GÜL (@gul_davut) May 31, 2022

The mayor confirmed that the aggressor was arrested.

Turkey hosts more than 3.6 million Syrians, the largest population of Syrians displaced by the conflict that started in 2011.

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