{"id":27771,"date":"2015-08-13T18:53:51","date_gmt":"2015-08-13T18:53:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/?p=27771"},"modified":"2015-08-13T18:53:51","modified_gmt":"2015-08-13T18:53:51","slug":"for-once-europe-can-learn-from-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/for-once-europe-can-learn-from-turkey\/","title":{"rendered":"For once, Europe can learn from Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"

One can find many reasons to criticize Turkey for its Syrian policy but it can only be applauded for keeping its borders open to those fleeing the “worst humanitarian crisis of our generation”.<\/p>\n

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Turkey hosts more refugees than any other country in the world.<\/p>\n

Atilla Toros, Head of Migration Department at the Interior Ministry gave the present number of registered Syrian refugees in Turkey as 1,905,985. The real number is likely to be much higher.<\/p>\n

Since the start of the uprising in March 2011, 4 million Syrians left their country. More than 7 million people have been displaced inside Syria.\u00a0 With no prospect of an end to the conflict, the 2 million plus refugees hosted by Turkey are not likely to go back to their homes in the foreseeable future. .<\/p>\n

Compared to the feeble response recently shown by European countries in tackling the refugee crisis unfolding on their doorstep, Turkey has dealt with millions of Syrians humanely and in an organised manner.<\/p>\n

The Turkish population, by and large, has been hospitable and charitable to the Syrians. However, the social and economic impact of the large influx of Syrians has already begun to change the society\u2019s perceptions of the refugees. \u00a0A recent Ipsos survey<\/a> carried out in 24 countries showed that 92% of respondents in Turkey believed that there are too many immigrants and it was negatively affecting their country.<\/p>\n

There are many signs that Turkey is reaching its maximum capacity to absorb any more refugees. Tens of thousands of Syrians gathering in the western port city of Izmir, preparing to risk their lives to reach the nearest European Union member Greece, is another indication of how unsustainable the situation has become.<\/p>\n

It is understandable that the small Greek islands are struggling to cope with the arrival of more than 1,000 refugees a day, mostly from Turkey. But the EU- member Greece is justifiably coming under strong criticism for failing to receive people that have survived the perilous journey to their shores with humanity and dignity.<\/p>\n

The European Union as a whole seems to lack a coherent and humanitarian response. Apart from Germany, the EU reaction to the Syrian refugee crisis has been seriously short of its international obligations. Containment in neighbouring countries can no longer be the only viable solution. Unless the EU starts an orderly programme of resettlement and humanitarian admission for refugees as proposed by the UNHCR, boat-loads of immigrants will continue to turn up on their shores.<\/p>\n

The European Union has asked Turkey to crack down on profit-seeking criminals smuggling migrants across the sea. This is fair criticism and Turkey must do more to tackle gangs that exploit and abuse increasing number of refugees. However, an unprecedented human crisis cannot be reduced to a security management issue alone. Populist reactions and inflammatory language from leading politicians further dehumanize desperate people that have already lost everything. Creating a climate of hostility towards people in need of assistance and protection only undermines those high values Europe has been so proud to espouse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One can find many reasons to criticize Turkey for its Syrian policy but it can only be applauded for keeping its borders open to those fleeing the “worst humanitarian crisis of our generation”. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Turkey hosts more refugees than any other country in the world. Atilla Toros, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27771"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27771"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27773,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27771\/revisions\/27773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}