As an outcome of the conflicts between ISIL and PYD forces or, more correctly, after Kurds, who had to flee due to the unavoidable march and terror of ISIL, entered the Turkish borders, the question of Syrian guests took on a new dimension.
Of course, we wish that these tragedies did not happen at all. However, this event shows Turkey’s position concerning human aid, and that especially when someone is in danger and looking for a safe port to harbor, Turkey gives a shelter to anyone regardless of their religious or ethnic background.
If only these tragedies did not take place, but they eventually did. As for what happened, there are lessons for us to learn and tests to endure.
If you consider Turkey‘s attitude regarding the wave of human migration from Syria and Iraq, no matter from what angle you take it, there is a unique aspect in it and it is precious beyond any appreciation.
Let alone appreciating this unique attitude and other related implementations, we are not expecting any surprising acclaim from those who contest in finding faults with it.
They are not doing anything good at all. Moreover, they are preoccupied with blocking the way for the beneficent ones. Therefore, they are pursuing a kind of pretext, which would relax their tiny prick of conscience that might move them away from their current languor and misery, and justify their insensitivity and irresponsibility that they performed against humanity.
This pretext makes them arrogant and aggressive every passing day. This state of mind requires such nature. Thus, they are arguing that the accepted guests around 1.5 million are all Sunni and there is nothing humanitarian in that perspective.
However, the case is different. If we check the background of those who come from all parts of Syria and Iraq, it forms a highly complex composition. Among them are Arabs and some of them are Sunni and Shia. Others are Armenian, Yazidis, Christian and Kurds and given the current picture, it looks like a high number of Kurds will come from Syria.
When the issue is human aid, Turkey teaches the whole world a lesson that the religion, sect or ethnic background of the oppressor and oppressed does not matter. Today the world truly needs a good lesson on this subject, because the current sectarianism in which the world is immersed is not a good sign.
If someone looks at the profile of an oppressor in order to tolerate his own oppressor and does not allow their conscience to awaken, it becomes a disaster for humanity and this disaster is almost the norm for the foreign policy in the current world.
Even so, the world is such a place that if the oppressor is his own kind, then people so easily turn blind to the situations of the oppressed and become deaf to their cries.
Unfortunately, such a world, which is supposedly to be called the international community, has been epitomizing this mentality in parallel with developments for the last 4 years.
When Israel slaughtered 500 kids and almost 2200 civilians under air bombardments, an academic whose attention I wanted to draw explained the unresponsiveness of the common western citizens with these words:
“An average western looks at the situation in Palestine as a clash between the two sides that has been continuing for 70 years. So, it does not matter to them how many were killed in these last attacks. For them, even if peace is established, it won’t last long. Therefore, they take the case like ‘let them do as they want."
This is such a devil-may-care attitude, which denies all the big tragedies that happen even in the smallest part of the Middle East. According to this perception, there is no economic value or reciprocity of any human tragedy taking place in the Middle East. And we should note down to somewhere that this mood of apathy towards what is going on in the world today is suddenly alert when you mention 1915 and against the new monstrous organization like ISIL.
You might call this attitude a selective sensitivity. From wherever you look at it, it’s racist and from wherever you look at it, it’s a manner of orientalism.
In fact, in what I quoted from the western academics, the perception that was produced concerning the Middle East is simply an outcome of their legitimization campaigns, which they successfully led concerning the developments in the Middle East within the scope of their western citizens.
There is no doubt that because of these campaigns an insensitive and indifferent society surfaced. However, sensitivity and altruism are the most significant, vital indicators of any society.
Turkey, which became a safe shelter for those who want to survive, has been showing its hospitality for about 1.5 million people in the best conditions; thus, with such sensitivity it consolidates its own vital characteristic.
