What About Latest Immigrants And Asylum Seekers In Turkey? – OpEd
“Let’s send them all back” is not an easy solution. The idea of ”Let’s bring a political will to power that will send them back” is not an easy solution either. It is necessary to think seriously about this issue and to produce appropriate, compatible, healthy and rational positive policies.
Syrian refugees, most of them with their core families, have come to our country by crossing our southern borders in the last ten years. The wealthy and educated people quickly left Turkey by obtaining a visa and they went to Western European and North American countries. The remaining, maybe ten million, maybe more, majority of people first worked in low-paying jobs, as in every immigrant-receiving country, in order to earn money, have a job, and then establish a business. They established colonies, ghettos, slums that could maintain their own culture. Today, we come across such clusters in Ankara Mamak, Keçiören, Ornek neighborhoods. Similar clusters exist in Istanbul Fatih and Bağcılar districts.
Let’s look at the experiences of other countries that received immigrants, after the British immigration ended in the United States in the 18th century, eastern European immigrants came from Ireland in the 19th century, then Middle Eastern people were guests on the immigrant port of New York Ellis Island. After Health inspections, they spread to the vast expanses of America. They took their past knowledge, experience, skills and culture to the new frontier lands they went. German immigrants spoke German language among themselves for a long time and published German magazines and newspapers. There are still village German-speaking settlements in the state of Texas. The Germany-born people of these regions inevitably learned English for communication and trade.
The people who came did not have a chance to turn back, they came by burning the ships behind them. They had no old people to look after, they were not attached to anyone, they had no ties to the old country they came from, they had no old property, no old responsibilities. Immigrants later had many children, they first accepted the simplest jobs, they learned, developed, raised, and created wealth for themselves and their families in order to be able to settle in their new homeland. They were oppressed in the old countries they came from, they resisted in their new country where they felt they were more free, they worked hard, they took ownership.
For Australia, in the 18th century, British prisons were emptied, British Scottish Irish prisoners sailed for months and built a new future for themselves in the newly promised land. They formed a solid ethically ordered society within themselves.
A similar situation was applied in Canada and other colonies. The Italians went to Argentina, the Germans to Brazil. They brought their skills and culture to these places.
Today, second and third generation immigrant children, Hindus, Pakis and Bengalis, can become MPs, ministers or even prime minister in England. The second and third generation children of our South-Eastern people, became deputy ministers in Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden.
Let’s not worry about bad examples in history. The largest group of asylum seekers who came to us came from Syria, followed by immigrants from Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Syrians came with their families, they took advantage of our health and social assistance opportunities, settled down, multiplied, got a job, started a business, and entered jobs that our people did not want to do. They tried to be successful, they are still trying.
These asylum seeker immigrants people will not go back. This idea may be difficult for us at first, but let’s accept it gradually. We should not exclude or degrade these people. We need to integrate these people within us over time. We need to approach them just like the hardworking people we took in after the Turkish migrations from Western Thrace, Crete, Bulgaria in 20th century.
The people who came Syrians have a very old civilization, Syria is a historical place where the people of the west and east met, fought and exchanged cultures during the Crusades. Romans, ancient Greeks, ancient Egyptians, Phrygians, have been in this land. Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, Homs, Tartus, Diar-el Zor are incredible historical sites, places where human genes are mixed.
Those who leave will go, or maybe return to their own country, maybe migrate to other third countries where they will live more comfortably, but the majority of immigrant asylum seekers will stay here, let’s know this fact, let’s accept it, and we will build our future under these conditions.
