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Fruit stand in Istanbul (symbol picture)
Photo: Amer AlMohipany / picture alliance / NurPhoto
The Turkish authorities have ordered the deportation of seven foreign nationals who shared a video of themselves eating bananas on social media. The background is a controversy between Turks and Syrian refugees about who can afford bananas. The foreigners were arrested for provocative posts in the social media - and their deportation had been initiated, said the migration authority. According to information from the Turkish media, these are Syrians.
The banana controversy was sparked by a street poll last week: A Turk complained that Syrians could afford more in the country than locals.
"I can't eat bananas, you buy kilos of bananas ..." he said to a migrant woman.
She then defended herself and emphasized that she was paying for it.
Shortly afterwards, videos appeared on social media in which users demonstratively eat bananas and back up the recording with quotes from the street survey.
Turkey is going through a severe economic crisis
The migration authority said they would fully investigate the background of the videos and take action against anyone who shared them.
Turkey is in a serious economic crisis.
Inflation was last at almost 20 percent.
Turkey experts such as Hans Gustafson from the major Swedish bank Schwedbank fear that the country will slide into hyperinflation (read more about the crisis in Turkey here).
The national currency, the lira, fell to a record low.
For a dollar, 9.66 lira had to be paid for one dollar and 11.25 lira for one euro, which is more than ever before.
Turkey has taken in around 3.7 million refugees from Syria and hundreds of thousands of other migrants.
Given the economic crisis in the country, resentments against migrants are increasing.
In mid-August, a mob attacked Syrians and their businesses in Ankara.
bam / dpa
