Let us look at the migration problem from here too

Today we are discussing the problems created by Türkiye's being a country that receives migration. Of course, when we focus on the problems, we forget the truly large, positive dimension of the matter. Yet being a destination of migration is also an indicator of how livable a country is. That people, because of the many economic and political problems they face in their own countries, come to Türkiye and not elsewhere shows how relatively well off Türkiye is, both in terms of its economic standard of living and in terms of political freedoms and justice. Indeed, migrants also try to go to many countries of Europe, and Europe too has to discuss the problems this creates.

That is why Türkiye is at present discussing, and trying to solve, the problems created by waves of migration from all over the world. Of course, it is not possible for Türkiye to meet all of these migration demands. Income injustice and governance injustice in the world push people out of the places where they live, while prosperous countries attract these migrants.

The Westerners, who are the owners of the world order, are today first-degree responsible for the unjust income distribution in many parts of the world because of their colonialism. So in a sense the waves of migration they face are a price for their colonial crimes. Türkiye, on the other hand, has no share in the formation of either the political or the economic problems in the countries that are the sources of migration.

However, Türkiye has historical ties with all of these countries. The direction of migration toward Türkiye is a matter both of the notable and visible improvement in Türkiye's level of welfare and of the migrants' view of Türkiye. Perhaps the migrants go to Europe and America to collect their receivables arising from two centuries of colonialism, but they come to Türkiye to take refuge in the warm, trustworthy home of a well-off member of their own family.

A reality that the increased presence of migrants in Türkiye points to is very closely related to Türkiye's assertive presence in the world, so in dealing with this problem we must never neglect this point either. In approaching the migrant problem, we must also avoid causing situations that would put Türkiye behind this "self-made claim" and that would not befit this claim.

A role born of its history, identity, position and present-day rise has been written for Türkiye, and the presence of migrants is an inevitable part of this role, this position. As our esteemed President has said, and as our Interior Minister most recently repeated, Türkiye "cannot back away a millimeter" from this position. If it backs away a millimeter, it will have eaten all the words it has said to the world until now. The most important messages we have conveyed to the world over the last 17 years were those about this humanitarian policy. And the substance of these messages was filled in especially by our practice of being a refuge for the oppressed.

At the same time, it was in fact a reality that had made itself felt for years that we need to manage the migration problem in a much more technical and much more planned manner. Almost all of the people who migrate to Türkiye, whether illegally or through asylum, seem to want to live in Istanbul. But it is not possible for Istanbul to bear all of these waves of migration. Of course, Syrian migration, whose number exceeded 3.5 million in a short time, has strained Istanbul's capacity to receive migrants more than enough in this regard.

Yet from the very beginning there has been an official direction. From the moment each migrant's temporary protection request is accepted, he has been assigned to a province where he will be hosted. The difficulties they find in finding work in the provinces where they stay, or the attraction of Istanbul, quickly turn their course back to Istanbul. Unfortunately, when the existing labor market acts opportunistically in exploiting the cheap labor that migrants offer as undeclared work, a serious imbalance arises in wages and employment.

The solution to this is not to be hostile to the Syrian or to target him, but to prevent his being employed without insurance, in a way of which he too is a victim, and thus his labor being savagely exploited. When this is prevented, Istanbul, as a route for a migrant to find easy work, even if cheap, will lose some of its attraction anyway.

Nobody wants to remain in a place where they cannot make a living, where they cannot earn their bread by normal means. But perhaps the uncontrolled developments caused by migration that we might call "sudden onslaught" have led in a short time to situations that cannot be accepted. As Mr. Soylu said, certain regulations are essential for the continuation of a Türkiye that is safer even for the Syrians. But while these regulations are made, of course, there must be no new human rights violations; as our Muammer says, in order to catch an appointment we are very late for, we must not cause an accident by pressing the gas more than necessary.

The Governor of Istanbul, Mr. Ali Yerlikaya, acknowledges that in the steps taken recently for these delayed regulations the pace in the first days was faster than necessary, and he also separately takes on the responsibility for making amends if some grievances have arisen. Yesterday, during his visit to Yeni Şafak together with the Istanbul Provincial Director of the Directorate of Migration Management, Mr. Recep Batu, he made quite satisfactory statements on this.

He explained, first of all, that there is and can be absolutely no question of anyone who has been registered and has a temporary protection ID being sent back to Syria, that the accidents that arose because some practices in the first days went too fast are being made good, that people will be sent from Istanbul only to the provinces where they are registered, and that a deadline until 20 August has been given for this.

And these practices are never a deviation from the technical scope of the humanitarian policy that Türkiye has embraced from the beginning; on the contrary, they are nothing other than the implementation of certain measures that this scope requires but that were neglected for a while.

Meanwhile, the migrant or foreigner has come to be named Syrian. Yet there are those who came from Pakistan, Afghanistan and African countries, where there is currently no compelling situation like the one in Syria in their own countries, through the dealings of merchants of hope, and our people count all of them as Syrians without distinguishing among them.

The migration issue of course comes with its problems, but let us repeat, and we do not say this as a consolation, let us not forget that this problem is related to Türkiye's relative strength, prosperity and historical position today.