The bloodiest, most ruthless and corrupt international showdown of recent years took place on Syrian territory. The showdown among numerous countries led to a tragedy on Syrian land, which cost Syrians their lives and country.
However, those continuing their own battles without hesitating to shed Syrians’ blood, avoided paying the humanitarian price caused by their own bloody showdowns, and they continue to avoid it.
Those countries accusing Turkey, those continuing to mourn the Anatolian Armenians, with a total population of 1.5 million, as if no others suffered 104 years ago, as if tens of millions of people did not die in that war, as if tens of millions were not displaced, are blind and deaf to Syria, where 22 million people are suffering under exacerbated conditions today.
What is worse is that most of them are the perpetrators or accomplices of the sufferings in Syria. While all the crimes they committed are as clear as day, what kind of treatment are they going to give which sick conscience by going back to 1915?
The current statistics is that 12 million Syrians have been displaced, more than 1 million people have been killed, with millions wounded, and there are tens of thousands being tortured in President Bashar Assad’s dungeons. The last figure stated is not as high in comparison to the other figures, because those who are imprisoned do not live long, and it is known that these days imprisonment is a way for the regime to kill.
Though Turkey is not the reason behind what is happening in Syria, it has been the sole country to assume the humanitarian responsibility for the humanitarian situation there unhesitatingly and has been a role model to the rest of the world in this respect.
Let us give Lebanon and Jordan their dues too. They did not discard this responsibility either within the extent of their own means. As a matter of fact, if we were to look at it in ratio with their own populations, the number of Syrian refugees in both countries could be considered much higher than Turkey’s. There are 1.4 million Syrians in Jordan, which has a population of 10 million. That is about 14 percent of its own population. This rate is about 16 percent in Lebanon. Though Turkey is hosting more than three times the number of Syrians in those countries, surely the impact of this among a developed economy of 81 million was compensated a lot easier.
Making these countries take the responsibility for this humanitarian crime, caused by the countries carrying out proxy wars, is an additional injustice to the war itself. The sole reason behind all the operations revealed with respect to the EU or U.S. paying the humanitarian price to date is not any humanitarian sensitivity but the aim to prevent any migration flow to their countries. Had it not been for the likelihood of such a migration, it is unlikely that they would even bat an eye.
Yet, Turkey saw the situation from a completely humanitarian aspect, and regardless of what anybody says, this situation made Turkey shine like a star. It made a serious difference in the world with this approach, yet followers of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), the so-called social democrat leftists who do not appreciate this even though they see it, continue to embarrass us with their xenophobia.
The most typical discourse by the ignorance of xenophobia is that the blame behind unrelated problems is always burdened on those who are considered foreigners. Saying that all the problems in Turkey, economic or political, are caused by Syrians, is only a way to accuse the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who are helping them.
In every case, attacking an aspect that we should be most proud of in the whole world on behalf of Turkey, rejecting the opportunity to do good, is like heedlessness and misguidance after goodness.
Meanwhile, the International Foundation for Technology, Economic and Social Research (UTESAV) recently published a report titled, “The Impact of Syrian Refugees on Turkish Economy – Discussing an effect in light of universal experience.” Professor Bekir Berat Özipek, who wrote the report, produced an extensive study that discusses every perception concerning Syrians, and particularly questions and deconstructs the approaches that see them as burdens on the economy.
The statistical report reveals that contrary to common knowledge, Syrians have not been sitting back and constantly receiving unlimited assistance from the state. Syrians are working and making serious contributions to the economy.
In 2014 alone, 4,500 businessmen-- Syrian businessmen-- made a commercial investment of TL 1.22 billion. In 2015, Syrians took the lead among foreign investors – Germans were followed by foreign refugee investors at 25.21 percent. There are currently 6,000 Syrian companies with $3.5 billion investment. According to a new study, 90 percent of Syrians work and make a living through their own means.
As Syrians are currently migrants, they are more dynamic, energized and have a greater desire to hold on, with courage and entrepreneurship specific to the characteristic of migrants. Hence, they have the dynamism Turkey’s economy needs. As a matter of fact, they do this despite the current unbelievable legislation concerning foreign recruitment. Everybody can be sure that once this legislation is amended, Syrians’ contribution to the economy will multiply in folds.
Of course, neither they nor we would have wanted them to come this way. But if what is done is done and all this has happened, people have the opportunity to see this as a test and respond to it in the best way possible. This is an opportunity to reveal their quality, to turn what has happened into an advantage, and to show nobility.
While the opportunity to show this nobility persists, let those who want to play the stingy and unkind continue to play as they wish. The end of this game is obvious.
