Historian, academic Işıl Acehan, who works on Muslim minorities in the USA and Turkish workers who migrated to the USA during the Ottoman period, said that discrimination against Muslims increased during the period of former President Donald Trump.
Doctor Işıl Acehan evaluated the discrimination experienced by Turks living in the USA.
Acehan stated that the graduates of Harput American College, which was opened in Elazig Harput by Protestant priests who came to Turkey as missionaries in 1857, pioneered the first migration to the USA, and noted that the first group to go to the continent were Armenians who were successful at school.
Acehan said that Armenians who went to the USA sent money to their families in Turkey, which popularized immigration among Turks.
"Immigration to the USA generally took place from the Southeastern Anatolia region," she said.
Stating that the first immigrant Turks settled in the state of Massachusetts and worked in the manufacture of shoes, Acehan said that the Turks closed the worker deficit in the USA, but they were exposed to discrimination.
Acehan pointed out that the first Muslim community to immigrate to the USA was the Turks, and therefore they were not warmly welcomed by the USA,
"There were problems due to religious and cultural differences between the Turks who immigrated to the country and the Americans. Turks were discriminated against and marginalized," she added.
Noting that the USA is a secular state built on the Protestant culture, Acehan noted that the Americans discriminated against all races, Protestant and non-Muslim.
Acehan continued as follows:
"To the Americans, Turkish actually meant Muslim. Therefore, there was extreme prejudice against the Turks. The first Turks who immigrated to the USA were treated discriminatory and racist against black people. The press pumped this Turkish hatred to the public every day. Newspapers wrote that Turks were prone to crime, could not adapt to American culture, and that Turks should interact as little as possible. In the headlines, individual incidents such as a Turk committed a crime or beating a man were exaggerated, and a criminal profile was constantly drawn."
TRUMP'S SPEECH MADE PEOPLE SPREAD THE HATE
Mentioning that the increasing anti-Muslim sentiment after the September 11 attacks in the USA affected Turks as well, Acehan said that this reached its highest level with the coming to power of the former Trump.
Reminding that Trump's presidential decree, which was put into effect in 2017, that limited the admission of refugees to the country and introduced strict security procedures for immigrant visas, also harmed Turks and Muslims, he used the following statements:
"Trump imposed a travel ban on citizens of 7 Muslim countries, but could not impose a ban on Turkey due to commercial relations. Trump kept saying at his election rallies and afterward that Muslims do not belong to the United States and are hostile to the American people. These speeches triggered discrimination against Muslims and even changed the way many Americans view Muslims and Turks. Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric manifested as public hatred."