The Anatolian Plateau and the territory of modern Turkey have always been either areas of human migration, transit areas, or final destinations for migrants. The continuous and constant flow of people is not a new phenomenon for Turkey, but the scale and intensity of this flow in recent years is a big challenge for the government in Ankara. In 2011, when the civil war began in Syria, many Syrians realized that they would have a chance to live only on the territory of Turkey. The massive influx of Syrian refugees has turned Turkey into the country that hosts the most refugees. According to official figures, there are approximately 3.35 million Syrians under temporary protection in Turkey, about 1.3 million foreigners with short-term residence permits and more than 300,000 international asylum seekers. In 12 years, 224,000 Syrians received Turkish citizenship. About 7 percent of Turkey’s population is made up of migrants and refugees.

Several Turkish commentators and opinion leaders say the figures from Turkey’s interior ministry are too “optimistic”, saying the number of foreigners has exceeded 7 million. Some sources operate with a figure of even 13 million people. If the necessary measures are not taken, taking into account the high birth rate among Syrian refugees, by 2035 their number alone may increase to 35 million. Even if the term “refugee” is used in the public media space, I must note that, according to of the Geneva Convention signed in 1951 and according to Legal status of refugees in Turkey refugees from Syria have status “persons granted temporary protection”which means that sooner or later they have to return to their homeland.

The territory of Turkey is surrounded by ongoing armed conflicts. Syrian refugees began to migrate en masse after 2011, followed by refugees from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan (some of whom found asylum before 2011), etc. The war in Ukraine contributed to the emergence of a wave of Ukrainian refugees and Russian migrants. The war between Israel and Palestine forced the world to flee the path of shells and rockets, and many of them also found refuge in Turkish territory. Migrants from African countries most often use Turkey as a transit country, but also as a final destination.

Considering the huge number of Syrian refugees in Turkey, in this article I will analyze the problems related to Arab refugees. Another article will be devoted to Ukrainian refugees and Russian migrants.

The refugee crisis is a political and electoral issue

The Turkish president speaks proudly of Turkey’s success in overcoming the refugee crisis and often criticizes European countries that have closed their borders to refugees and have a rather harsh anti-immigration policy. Critics of the Turkish government say the country lacks a coherent migration policy, as Turkey’s president has repeatedly threatened the EU to open its doors to millions of refugees and then said that: “The universal Islamic brotherhood has no boundaries. No one can sow the seeds of division between us.”President Erdoğan often cites reasons related to the Islamic religion. “We will not throw the servants of Allah who seek refuge with us into the arms of murderers” he spoke of the wave of Syrian refugees, wanting to draw a parallel between the flight of Syrians from Syria to Turkey and the persecution of Muslims from Mecca who took refuge in Medina in 622 during the reign of the Prophet Muhammad, an event known as the Hijra, which is considered the beginning of the Muslim era. Critics of the regime argue that this policy of openness towards Syrian refugees or other nationalities is fully in line with the neo-Ottoman ideology promoted by the Justice and Development Party (AKP). The presence of different peoples, ethnic groups or communities would precisely make up the socio-cultural picture of the Ottoman Empire, and through the rhetoric of intensively promoted hospitality, the Turkish president would try to win the sympathy of potential refugees. Opinion polls show that the majority of refugees granted Turkish citizenship vote for the Justice and Development Party (AKP), led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In general or local elections, the issue of refugees returns to the public eye because it is on the list of priorities or promises of the candidates in the elections. For example, during last year’s presidential election, Erdogan’s opponents promised to return millions of Syrians if he won the election. Erdogan’s re-election as president pleased these people, as well as the European Union, because it means that the agreement signed between Turkey and the EU in 2016, under which the EU pays Turkey to take in these refugees, will remain in place. “What does the European Union want?: “Let me turn Turkey into a dumping ground for refugees, position it as a buffer zone instead of being a direct neighbor of these troubled geographies. This is what the European Union wants, and it is for this reason that Turkey will never become a member of the EU.” – says Barysh Doster, professor of Marmara University in Istanbul, specialist in international relations. This opinion is shared by ordinary Turks, who understand that they themselves will bear the burden due to the taxes and fees they pay, which will be spent on accommodating millions of refugees. Therefore, the refugee problem affects both the domestic and foreign policy of the Turkish state, and that is why a clear strategy is needed to avoid its exacerbation.

Growing resentment against immigrants

In 2011, when the war in Syria started, both the Turkish authorities and the population hoped that it would not last long, so at the beginning, Turkey as a country opened its doors wide, but the Turks also opened their doors to try to help the refugees. It is now 2023, and this conflict has not been resolved. Meanwhile, the number of refugees increased dramatically and the situation got out of control. Why am I saying this? Because at the social level, anti-refugee attitudes are growing in Turkey. It has changed over the years. It started with pity, sympathy, concern, and reached insecurity and even hatred of strangers. 54% of Turks believe that there is a refugee problem in their neighborhood. After the economic crisis that has engulfed the country, the refugee problem is the second problem that worries the population of Turkey. However, we cannot say that the sentiments of Turks against refugees are xenophobic, rather they are exacerbated by the difficult economic situation in which Turks have found themselves in recent years, as well as cultural, ethnic and linguistic differences between Turks. and Arab refugees. However, sporadic violent clashes between Turks and Arabs (Syrians, Afghans) reinforce these anti-refugee sentiments. Ordinary Turks are also active in social networks, demanding that the government urgently repatriate these refugees. The leadership is aware of this, which is why President Erdogan has come out with a promise to build houses for Syrian refugees in a safe zone on the Turkish-Syrian border. But for now this is only a promise, since there is no safe zone on the border with Syria and the conflict is still simmering there.

Official figures show that 33 percent of Syrian refugees arriving in Turkey cannot read or write. If countries such as Canada, the USA or European states accept only highly qualified migrants or refugees, then Turkey is forced to educate several generations of people, which is not easy, especially considering the existing language barrier. The refugees speak Arabic, so they do not know Turkish. Deep sentiments against refugees exist in Turkish public schools, where Syrian children study, whose rather large numbers are changing the socio-cultural picture of schools. It is for this reason that many parents decide to send their children to private schools so that they develop in the Turkish socio-cultural environment. Turkish employers see refugees as cheap labor with which they can threaten Turkish citizens with layoffs or withholding wages, fueling resentment against migrants. In the regions bordering Syria, there are settlements where the number of Syrians significantly exceeds the number of Turks, which can affect social and political life not in a positive, but in a negative sense. Refugees, in turn, realize that they are not accepted by the local population. An instructive example in this regard is the case of a Syrian woman who was rescued after the devastating earthquake in Turkey in February. When Turkish journalists asked her how she managed to get out of the rubble alive, she said the following: “I didn’t scream because I thought that if I screamed, the rescuers would understand that I’m Syrian and they wouldn’t save me. That’s why I’m just hitting walls.” –

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