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Turkey has become the target point of a mass migration, which is rarely seen in the world.
This essentially started with the Syrian war in 2011 and continues with Libya, Iraq, African countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russians and Ukrainians.
The largest part of the refugees is from Syria: according to official figures, they number more than 4 million, and according to unofficial figures, they exceed 7 million.
The ruling AKP government provides all kinds of opportunities to asylum seekers under temporary protection.
Even more than it provides to its own citizens; Syrians are officially the priority group in housing, food, education and health.
Migrants have trouble adapting wherever they go, revealing their violence-dominated feudal culture and arousing reactions from the local people.
There are many terorrists hiding among them also.
After the Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan, Afghan military young men, who came to Turkey via Iran, are also engaged in arms and drug smuggling.
While they are concentrated in cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Adana, Mersin, Gaziantep, Sakarya, Kilis, and Urfa, the largest population is in Hatay, Turkey’s most strategic province.
When Hatay was destroyed by the last earthquake, the Turkish population here decreased and the Syrians increased.
Asylum seekers also played an important role in the last presidential election.
How Does?
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whose votes decreased among Turkish voters due to the high cost of living, found the solution by making Syrians citizens and voters.
According to official figures, more than 250,000 Syrians voted in the election.
This number is expected to increase further in the local elections in 2024.
Speaking of elections; Asylum seekers and illegal immigrants, who were not mentioned much in the first round of elections on May 14, played an important role in the second round of elections on May 28.
CHP Chairman and Presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu turned the election into a referendum whether refugees should go or stay in the second round and met with Zafer Party, the critical party of the last period.
Kılıçdaroğlu and Özdağ agreed on the return of asylum seekers to their countries as soon as possible.
According to Victory Party Chairman Ümit Özdağ, there are at least 13 million asylum seekers and illegal immigrants in Turkey.
Özdağ describes this situation as “Demographical Occupation”.
In the nuclear world where hybrid wars prevail, migration is now a kind of war tool.
The winner of the election, in which the person who will rule Turkey until 2028 is determined, was the former President Erdoğan, who was elected by the votes of Turks abroad (mainly those who earn euros in Europe and benefiting from the economic crisis in the country) and citizens of asylum seekers.
When the result of the election became clear, the streets of Türkiye became the scene of the victory demonstrations of the refugees.
Some Syrian Arabs even said, “You infidels will go, this place will be ours as the Ottoman Empire,” addressing the secular Turks from the CHP.
Ozdag, the leader of the Victory Party, who made politics in line with Atatürk’s nationalist line, wrote the following words on his Twitter account regarding these scenes:
“Syrians celebrate the occupation. They hate the Victory Party, which resists the occupation. What are you AK Party members celebrating? 11 billion dollars a year we will spend on Syrians? Our soldiers who will be martyred in northern Syria? The pain of our girls who will be harassed on the streets? Selling drugs? Rents going up? Life getting expensive? The uncontrollable rise of the currency that will happen tomorrow or 3 days later? The sale of the last government institutions we have? What are you celebrating, brothers?”
Although those who give such reactions are easily accused of racism, it is becoming increasingly impossible even in the most liberal segments to remain indifferent as the world is experiencing an unprecedented foreign invasion.
The Erdogan government provides social benefits that even support Syrian refugees to have many children.
The source of water comes mainly from the EU.
They don’t want refugees from “forrest” come to their “garden”.
According to the immigration detention agreements with Turkey, billions of euros in aid are being given to Turkey.
One of those who want Syrians to stay in Turkey is the USA.
For the second Kurdish state (after Barzanistan) that it plans to establish in eastern Syria, the fact that the Arab population in that region is in Turkey is in the interest of Washington.
Erdogan’s scrambling to reach an agreement with Syrian President Assad is also based on this.
Assad has repeatedly called for Syrians in Turkey to return after the war, which actually ended in 2018, with amnesty dozens of times.
However, the Syrians who make a living on aid in Turkey are content with their lives, they only go to their homeland during the holidays.
As a result, a problem that will cause a headache for Turkey in the coming decades and may even threaten its territorial integrity is almost ignored in the world.
A tradesman from Hatay describes the extent of the demographic occupation with these words:
“The Syrian population in Hatay has increased so much that they come to us and say, ‘We have taken back Hatay, which Atatürk took from us.’ When we oppose them, 40-50 people can come and attack us. There is no Turkish population left in Kırıkhan district. They rob shops, they use their houses as markets.”
One final note; before the Syrian civil war, the mines on the Turkish border were cleared. Today, the mines on the Iranian border are being cleared. Afghans and Pakistanis come from this border every day and post their videos on tiktok.
What do we expect?
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Hasan Erel is a Turkish journalist-writer. He worked as a diplomacy and foreign news reporter and editor in TRT and other media for 30 years. He is a frequent commentator of Sputnik News radio and CRI Turk in Turkiye.
