Serhat Temel, a flight attendant at Turkish low-cost carrier Pegasus Airlines, has applied for asylum in the Netherlands after serving on an Istanbul to Amsterdam flight, according to a video shared on Twitter/X Inc.

“Prior to the last elections [in May], we were hopeful, joyful. Shame on those who’ve sold out Turkey for another five years after persuading us that some things would change. Damn the order that pushes youngsters to suicide,” Temel, 27, said in a statement.

Video: “Farewell Turkey, hoping to meet in five years' time in better days.” Temel sent a kiss and bid a farewell to Turkey before applying for asylum in the Netherlands.

“I’m Serhat, I’m going,” the Pegasus Airlines (PGSUS, a unit of Turkish conglomerate Esas Holding) flight attendant also said in a sardonic riposte to Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu’s slogan in his ill-fated election campaign: “I’m Kemal. I’m coming.”

“There’s 50% in Turkey who feel sick of those who've turned the country upside down for 22 years, who've stolen the citizen’s bread and distributed it to their henchmen, and those who've defended them,” Temel also wrote, adding: “You’ve also stolen our hopes with your parroting: ‘I’m Kemal, I’m coming’”.

Kilicdaroglu is presently fighting with the TV channel that backs his party, with his efforts widely seen as aimed at silencing calls for his resignation.

“Shame on those who let girls in my country face harassment and be filmed on beaches and be shared on TikTok [by migrants who do not understand Turkish society]. May the mindset that defends hodjas of religion who rape 12-13-year-old kids explode. Those crummy people who say these ‘migrants are our religious fellows’, you will peg out, inshallah,” Temel also wrote in his statement.

“I don’t want to live, or accept living, in the conditions and the current order along with the migrants, mafiosi, the opportunists in Turkey, a country where people are currently killed on the streets,” he also declared, adding: “You should also keep opposing living in a country with all the thieving, predatory and crooked people.”

Temel also advised that whoever has a chance to flee Turkey should not hesitate to do so.

In June, a 17-year old high school student from Turkey applied for asylum in Germany after making a run for it while on an Erasmus trip in Italy.

In 2022, a total of 0.5mn Turks headed abroad to stay there, up 62% y/y, according to the official data.

Also last year, 2,685 Turkish doctors applied to the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) to receive the required document to enable them to flee abroad. In January-July this year, the figure stood at 1,649.

Chart: Number of Turkish doctors that applied to the TTB for a consent that enables them to head for a new life abroad.

In 2022, Turks ranked fourth for asylum applications submitted to EU countries. Some 49,720 Turks applied for asylum in the year, up from 20,315 in 2021.

Last week, government officials in the UK boasted about an agreement signed with Turkey against illegal immigration. The telling details of the so-called agreement are unknown.

In 2022, 1,076 Turks arrived in the UK by boat, with 191 subsequently returned to Turkey. In January-July this year, 1,486 Turks arrived in the country by the same method.

In 2016, Turkey signed an infamous migrant readmission deal with the EU.

Since 2015, Turkey has hosted the largest refugee community in the world, with around 4mn people, including 3.6mn registered Syrian refugees and 330,000 registered refugees from other countries.

The official size of this community has remained stable for seven years. No one has officially arrived to stay in Turkey since 2015 and not even a single baby has been officially born in the refugee community.

In reality, Turkey is currently hosting a minimum of 10mn migrants, making up more than 10% of its 86mn-population.

In 2022, Turkey deported 68,290 Afghan citizens and 12,511 Pakistanis.