Migration and historical responsibility

The Republic of Turkey, defined and founded as a modern nation-state, had in effect decided, in terms of its population and body politics, to put a dam in front of all the habits coming from its history. But the official discourse's having settled on this did not mean that, in practice, it could avoid the roles inherited from its history. As we said before, even in the Republican period Turkey had to accept the waves of migration coming from its former geographic borders as if paying the debts handed down by history. The people these waves of migration brought added new and fresh elements to Turkey's demographic blend.

Today, with the aftershocks of the process called the Arab Spring, Turkey is receiving a migration exceeding 4 million in total. This number is greater than the population of many Arab countries. When the number of citizens of Arab origin in Turkey is added, Turkey has risen to the top ranks even among Arab countries in the ranking of countries hosting the largest Arab population.

Although it is not mentioned much, one of the most important aspects of the Arab Spring concerning Turkey is that all of it takes place in a geography that belonged to the Ottomans before the First World War. On the other hand, the most important slogans the Arab Spring raised referred to Turkey as a successful model before them. Perhaps that is why, for some, the process was seen as a horror scenario, "the Return of the Ottomans", and measures against it were attempted through the most merciless blows and massacres.

Reviving and bringing back the Ottomans was never Turkey's claim, but the factual situation produces such a picture. The process against the Arab Spring was at the same time indirectly a process against Turkey. Even if it wanted to, Turkey could no longer escape this identification made from outside itself. As Süleyman Demirel once said, we cannot escape our history and our geography. The stance Turkey has taken in favor of the Arab Spring process since its very beginning was a responsibility demanded by this history and geography. In fulfillment of this responsibility, it asked the rulers to respond positively to the peoples' demands for democratization, freedom and dignity.

The Arab Spring process, as is known, took an entirely different turn in Syria in 2011. The first place that those who remained of the people exposed to the regime's massacres preferred to go was Turkey. Admittedly, there are Syrian refugees today in Lebanon and Jordan as much as in Turkey. In fact, in proportional terms, the number of Syrian asylum seekers in these two countries can even be counted as greater than in Turkey. But in terms of the services provided to Syrian refugees and the treatment, no other country can be compared with Turkey. When a coup was carried out against the revolution in Egypt in 2013, Turkey led the rare countries that characterized this intervention as a coup. Its stance was very clear. One result of this clear stance was that it became the primary country of refuge for those who had to leave their countries from there.

Not only because of its role in the Arab Spring process, but essentially because of the humanitarian stance it has taken toward international crises, Turkey has stood out as, in the common term, a country that takes the oppressed under its wing.

For this reason, people from countries such as Iraq, Myanmar and Somalia as well, above all Syria, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, affected by the Arab Spring process, have been in Turkey for years to build new lives for themselves. A significant portion of these people, because the crises are still continuing, at least as long as the crises continue, are in a position where they cannot return to their own countries. In Syria and Yemen in particular, civil war conditions physically prevent return, and in Egypt, because of the conditions of the military coup that make a reliable legal environment impossible, people from these countries are for now unable to return to their countries.

Even if the conditions for return to some countries come about, some have either built new lives such that they can no longer leave Turkey, or even if they go, they seem likely to set up a new order in which they shuttle between the two countries without leaving Turkey entirely. Undoubtedly, such a life will have very functional aspects in terms of the bridge it creates between the two countries.

Of course, although all this population was relieved at first by taking refuge in Turkey as an urgent need, over time different needs emerge that reach those of ordinary citizens. The lengthening time creates the problem of their passports becoming invalid, and the need for them or their children to benefit from health and education services, to find a place in the employment market, and thus to find their economic and professional activities here as well.

Meanwhile, Arab communities that have built their lives in the time that has passed and moved their trade and investments here stand out. These migrants, most of whom have an established order and assets, display the feature of creating a very dynamic social capital where they have come. Diaspora is always an element providing the most important motivation needed for economic organization and investment, for entrepreneurship. Moreover, although the Arab elements on one side see themselves as in diaspora, the gratitude and affection they show toward Turkey keep them away from the negative effects of diaspora as well. Arab communities who feel at home in Turkey have come to be in a position to make a serious contribution to Turkey with the cultural and material features they possess.

A Yemeni businessman I met at the Arabic Book Fair in Istanbul had, because he had invested 1 million dollars, completed the other procedures too and, as required by law, earned the right to become a citizen a few days ago. Since this amount is the state's minimum requirement, he presented it, but the investments he has made are far greater. He was saying that, just in this latest period, because of the foreign currency he converted into Turkish Lira following the President's call, he had lost 43 million TL. But there was not an ounce of regret or sorrow in his account; he was saying he was ready to sacrifice everything for Erdoğan and Turkey.

He added that there are many people like himself who are eager to make more contributions to Turkey, but that both the residence and the visa and citizenship processes must absolutely be thoroughly reviewed.

To sum up, one dimension of the migration after the Arab Spring concerns a responsibility that our history, our geography and our humanity place before us and that we cannot escape, and another dimension concerns knowing the possibilities and opportunities this migration contains and being able to manage them. Both are undoubtedly matters requiring constant concern, vigilance and follow-up.