Fresh wave of migrants to Europe feared
The hardening of Turkey’s stance to refugees, specifically Syrians who number some 3.3 million in the country, has sparked fears of a new migration wave into the EU.
According to a report by Reuters, many Syrians in Turkey are considering either emigrating to European countries or returning home, due to economic hardship and discrimination.
The Syrian migrants currently under the most immediate pressure are those in Istanbul who are registered elsewhere in Turkey, as these people will officially become personae non gratae in the country’s second-largest city on Sunday.
The government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought to distribute refugees, fleeing civil war and poverty, proportionally among the various geographical districts, but many have headed to major urban centers. In Istanbul alone there are 532,000 Syrian refugees.
The anti-immigrant sentiment in the country has intensified via the rhetoric of many Turkish politicians in the runup to the local elections next March. In last May’s presidential and parliamentary elections, the opposition had raised the stakes, with the Kemalist CHP party pledging to send all migrants back to their home countries.
Although Erdogan recently accused the opposition of demagoguery, stressing his government’s refugee and asylum policy would remain unchanged, he did nonetheless vow during the election campaign to seek the repatriation of 1 million Syrian refugees.
Meanwhile, in Cyprus, which is buckling under migrant pressure, Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou urged the EU to reassess the safe areas in Syria where refugees would henceforth be allowed to be repatriated. The EU currently recognizes only one safe area, that of Tartus, with Damascus, Latakia, Homs and Quneitra designated as “low-level violence” areas.
Eurostat figures released Friday show that in June Cyprus had the highest proportion of asylum seekers in relation to its population, with 6% made up of migrants.
The EU received 83,000 asylum applications in the same month, an increase of 25% compared to last year.
