The immigration policy of the Turkey Century

For 21 years Turkey has distinguished itself, together with its nation and its state, through the humanitarian policies it has pursued internationally and the humanitarian aid it has delivered to troubled regions all over the world. Most recently there were the material costs it paid for embracing those who took refuge in the country to save their lives from Iraq and Syria. Undoubtedly this was a test it faced amid these humanitarian crises, and like all tests, choices are made. Turkey placed its choice on the side of humanity. The AK Party government that did this has been governing the country for 21 years. The votes of confidence the people have continually renewed for it have been for the government's overall actions, decisions and policies. There are also people who regard Turkey's policy in this matter as a sacrifice made by withholding from its own citizens, and who do not join in this sacrifice. There is also a segment of our people who do not care if the world sinks and all people die, and democracy is a regime that gives a say even to such people. But if, in the governing of the country, democratic processes decide in the end on this process, it is quite clear that the Turkish people have, on the whole, continued until now to support this policy of the AK Party and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

It was said that racist rhetoric would play a great role in the latest elections. The candidate who most openly defended and voiced those racist policies, who said we will se-nd th-em ba-ck, the Syrians, did not obtain the approval of the people. Erdoğan, on the other hand, who had made no concessions whatsoever from his principled stance on this from the start, even a day before the election when asked, and declared he would make none, won the elections by a margin of 4.4 points, despite having been in power for so many years and despite all the wearing effects of power.

By blowing up a "myth of rising nationalism," and identifying this myth with marginal, xenophobic racism, they tried to collect a premium for xenophobia. First of all, xenophobia has nothing to do with nationalism, and it was seen that, despite all its noise, it represents a marginal segment that has no local standing in the grammar of democracy.

MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli understood Erdoğan's principled stance on this very well, and acted in support and agreement on what it requires. Beyond that, one would have to be thoroughly naive not to see that the xenophobia that makes so much noise is, first and foremost, foreign to Turkey, and, being miles away from any awareness of what it is to be native or foreign in Turkey, is merely an operation's din.

The political and sociological conditions under which Turkey has become a country receiving migration in recent years need to be read very well. This is a matter closely tied, above all, to the progress, growth and opening to the world that Turkey has achieved. The number of people who studied in all of Turkey's universities in the past never reached 10 thousand; today this figure has reached 300 thousand. The number of students the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) targets is 1 million. Whereas Turkey was once dependent on the outside for quality health services, it has now become a country that, thanks to health tourism, developed toward a level that will place it among the top five in the world, is visited by hundreds of thousands of people every year who live there for a while. This will inevitably increase the foreign presence in Turkey. Moreover, the great majority of this presence comes from the Arab world, which our racists do not like at all. We are not even counting the other fields and reasons.

Because of the populations it currently hosts, Turkey is also gaining the opportunity to have more say in a significant part of the Arab world. The Arabs in Turkey are there with their investments, their spending, their role as carriers of culture. Between Turkey and the Arab world, whatever anyone says, there are bonds that can never be torn out, and as long as these bonds are strong, both worlds will be strong on the international stage and in the race of civilization. What Turkey did and could do in the periods when it was cut off from the Arab world is plain. By contrast, where Turkey has arrived as its bonds with the Arab world have strengthened in recent years is plain too.

The many foreigners in the United States, Britain, France, the Netherlands and Germany fulfill exactly this function. These diasporas are the most powerful intermediaries for implementing the economic, political and cultural policies toward countries of origin more effectively. Turkey has entered this process over the last twenty years.

Some time ago Turkey decided not to remain in its own shell, to raise its exports to 500 billion and then 1 trillion dollars, to be present in the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia with a peaceful mission, and to cooperate with the people of these geographies in building a better world. Walking in line with this decision and mission inevitably requires that a human presence from these geographies be actively in Turkey, and a human presence from Turkey be in these geographies.

The Turkish people are extremely amenable to this mission of their state, but it must be seen that the terror stirred up inside by provocateurs who want to sabotage this mission, and who supposedly do so in the name of nationalism, is trying to keep Turkey from this mission. One must not allow the terror of these provocateurs to keep Turkey from this mission and from the long road. But first of all one must also see that their attempt to do this by using so-called nationalism is more dangerous than the PKK and FETÖ terror that are generally set before us along the same road.

Turkey's regional and global opening policies also require it to follow culture and migration policies compatible with them. Racist-xenophobic movements run contrary to this great national mission of Turkey. In all the European countries we mentioned there is some xenophobia, but none is this reckless, boundless and uncontrolled. Because they know that a limit crossed in xenophobia will weaken the country, and serious measures have been taken against it. Unfortunately, we still have no legal measure against xenophobia and racism. That is why hate crimes can be committed recklessly and with ease against a race, a people.

OF COURSE, THE MATTER OF MIGRANTS NEED NOT GET OUT OF CONTROL. Everyone knows and accepts that Istanbul has an irregular migrant problem far above the city's carrying capacity. Irregular migrants are not the same as people under temporary protection status and political-humanitarian asylum seekers. Irregular migrants should be deported by due procedure, again by due procedure without forgetting that they have human rights. In the identity checks carried out to identify irregular migrants, tourists, students and those with the right to be legally in Turkey should not be offended. The reputation Turkey has earned over the years in this matter should not be damaged, but above all, consciences should not be damaged.

We follow closely and with appreciation some of the work the Directorate General of Migration Management has done in recent days, recognizing this danger. Of course, migration management does not consist only of fighting irregular migrants; it also requires very comprehensive sociological, psychological and political work.