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ÖNDER KALAYCI
HALİT ERAY BOZKURT
After the beginning of the Syrian civil war, the refugee crisis in the European Union is growing day by day. Set out from Turkey and Greece, the refugees want to go to European Union member countries in the west. They take the risk of death in the Aegean Sea.
According to the Geneva Convention (1951), for refugees from Palestine and Afghanistan to European countries, the European Union's policy on refugees is inadequate. It is stated that the refugee problem, the Schengen pact and the integration of the EU Member States generates economic, cultural and social problems. According to Eurostat data, the countries that received the highest number of refugees among the EU member states are Germany, Sweden, Italy, France, Austria, and Greece. Poland and Hungary are not receiving refugees. Although Turkey is not a member of the European Union, many refugees see Turkey as a gateway to Europe. Italy and Greece are overly disturbed by this situation. Because it is the entry point of refugees as a gateway to the European continent, refugees are taking their first steps in these two countries. While France has more opportunities to deal with this situation, they can not fulfill their responsibilities and remain ineffective.
Among the member states of the European Union, fines and some sanctions have been imposed on the member states that do not comply with the refugee placement plan. Countries such as Finland and Malta, while emphasizing that they fulfill their responsibilities to refugees, thousands of refugees still remain in Italy and Greece, in the refugee camps.
The refugee problems in Europe are inadequate, especially in terms of preventing fatal problems, or in terms of ensuring that refugees, who have arrived the EU Member States, can live in humanitarian conditions rather than living under difficult conditions in refugee camps.
We talked about the situation of the refugees with Anadolu University Lecturer Dr. Çağdaş Ceyhan and the students of Faculty of Communication Sciences who had Erasmus experience in the different EU Member States: Ahmet Öztürk (24), Ulaş Çelikkol (21), Yalım Defne Yeşilova (22).
Refugees are aware of the danger
Refugees who wish to reach Europe prefer the sea route. According to the data of Frontex and the Greek police, about 245 thousand refugees prefer the sea route and risk their lives to reach Greece, Italy, Malta, France, and Spain. It is possible to say that the refugee problem is not a regional but a global problem because the number of refugees lost their lives in the sea is more than three thousand people. Ahmet Öztürk who had Erasmus internship in Budapest in summer 2018 says: “Hungary does not accept refugees. When they find refugees in Hungary, they are deported".
Ulaş Çelikkol who went to the Netherlands says: “There were so many refugees in my area. They were mostly refugees with visas. They did not enter the country by means of illegal means and they were Syrians from the war zone”.
Defne Yeşilova who went to Poland says: “Poland does not accept refugees. Those who come to the inner parts of Europe have either a visa or air travel. In this case, the problem is more of a problem experienced in the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece”.
The cause of Islamophobia is not refugees
Slovakia opens its doors to Christian refugees, claiming that there is no mosque in its territory and that Muslim refugees cannot adapt. Muslim refugees are left excluded from the country. Another problem is the rising of Islamophobia. However, Dr. Çağdaş Ceyhan says: “Islamophobia existed earlier. By the late 1970s, the 80s had a worldwide rise. With this rise, it has also started to affect Muslim immigrants in Europe. At that time they began to create a new identity. They reinterpreted Islam. Especially after the Charlie Hebdo incident in France, ISIS was encountered. It was a great fear that migrants came to their countries and the European people were exposed to terror in their own lands.”
According to Çelikkol, the rise of Islamophobia in Europe is not the result of refugees, but the terrorist organizations that exist to -so called- defend Islam. Çelikkol says “It is not Islamophobia in Germany, but racism, because of the money spent for refugees. The German people are uncomfortable with this situation.”
Öztürk says “There was no refugee in Hungary. But there were more homeless people. It looks like the third world country of the European Union. I can't talk about Islamophobia, but I can talk about homeless people. Because their clothes were in bad condition and everyone was disgusted by them. When I visited Sarajevo, I went to the film festival. The state took away the refugees who stayed there during the festival, and I saw no refugees during my stay there.”
Right parties in Europe on the rise
Dr. Ceyhan says “When we look at the reason why modern, right-wing parties are on the rise, there are many interrelated factors, a chain reaction. Right movements in Europe were not new, they had more racist discourses in the 90s. Due to the great economic crisis of 2008 and the destruction of neo-liberalism for many years, there are right populist views on the basis of anti-immigration, not racial basis”.
Ceyhan continued his words as follows: “There is a certain level of Islamophobia. This Islamophobia is defended by civilization advocacy, defended by the claim of European civilization. In explaining this, all the right-wing parties in Europe have connections and relations with each other. One of the concrete examples of this is that they want to make a joint candidate in the European Commission elections.
When this situation is combined with many factors, it will come together in the European civilization. For the right-wing views of the Ascension, it is a political organization that has the co-chairs such as the Alternative for Germany (AFD) party and can capture all segments of the European civilization. For the right-wing views of the Ascension, it is a political organization that has the co-chairs such as the Alternative for Germany (AFD) party and can capture all segments of the European civilization. The absence of a strong leadership in the new movement, apart from the traditional right-wing parties in Europe.”
Çelikkol says “The rise of right-wing parties in Europe is actually due to the political chaos in the world. Rather than the war in the Middle East, it is an indicator of the economic decline of countries”. He also added that his remarks were a problem for refugees from the third world countries who came to the European Union member states for economic reasons.
Another student Yalım Defne Yeşilova says: “I went to Brussels. Homeless and refugees were mixed up there. In Brussels, when homeless people were begging, they were begging to look at the ground and not speak at all in order not to adversely affect people's feelings, but there is no such thing in refugees. Refugees have places to stay, they are not homeless. Most receive money with government support, but some are begging. In Brussels, the majority of Syrian refugees came from a war zone. Refugees due to economic migration were more likely to be ghettoized in remote places than in central areas”.
Refugees are an economic force in the future for the EU
It is possible to say that refugees who migrated to EU countries where there is no sufficient young population, promises a new economic future as a labor force. Ceyhan says “The economic contribution of refugees to the EU is through adaptation and education. If they are more at peace with the community, it will be easier to adapt, which will enable them to take part in the active population”. Çelikkol argues “in the Netherlands, living standards were at a more advanced level, my barber was a Syrian and worked there. They have contributions to the national economy”. Yeşilova stated that refugees are labor force as an active population.
How the European Union can produce solutions to the refugee problem?
Öztürk says “Refugees in the European Union should be seen as an economic power and job opportunities should be provided. If they are not used as labor in the production of labor rights, they will be deprived of decent living”. Çelikkol says “Every European Union Member States, by providing employment opportunities for refugees according to their own businesses, can benefit from their labor. While doing this, the unemployment situation in the country should also be considered. But first of all, refugees should learn the language of the country and they must learn to adapt to the culture of their new home”.
