The CHP has never been against Syrian refugees!

After the 61 years of oppression and despotism of the Baath regime in Syria, which regarded its own people as its enemy and was established in defiance of its own people's values, beliefs and expectations, came to an end on December 8, an incredible sense of relief and an expectation of trust and stability emerged among the people in Syria. Both in my visit to Syria and in my meetings with many Syrians in Turkey, it is easy to see that this expectation and affirmation has spread to very broad segments of society.

Syrians are thoroughly convinced that the new administration is their own administration. In Syria so far there has been no trace of any statement or political practice aimed at excluding any segment of society, even by implication. So much so that there is not even a wholesale intention and will to exclude the Nusayri segment, which the old regime used as its sociological base.

Even the new regime's fight against the drug rackets alone makes Syria a country that promises a future. In essence Syria, with its extremely strong historical, cultural, geopolitical and human capital dimensions, has enormous potential for development. We can say that if this country had not been held under oppression for 100 years, a very strong model that would lead the world in every field could have emerged from here. Admittedly this applies to many Islamic countries as well, but it applies far more to Syria. That is why a Syria whose people have been freed promises a very great future. Especially when this free people has gained its freedom by resisting the most savage despotism that human history could have seen for 61 years. Especially, moreover, when a significant part of this people spread to every part of the world as emigrants during this resistance, acquired the horizons, experience, cultures, courage and entrepreneurship of those places, and is coming to take part in rebuilding their own country.

Now the great majority of Syrians in Turkey or scattered all over the world have begun to watch for the day and the opportunity to return to their countries. Not only do they all think of escaping the position of asylum seeker that now confines them so much, they also carry the love and excitement of the contribution they will make to their own country. All the Syrians we have met are thinking of carrying the experience they gained in this country and the orders they established to serve the rebuilding of Syria. The same holds for the Syrians in Germany and in Europe. There is a very open field in Syria for a future to be built together, and this promises great hope for the birth of a new society, a new country and even a civilization.

However, as the prospect of their return home emerges, particularly in European countries, attention has begun to turn to the roles Syrians play in the economy and society and to the gaps that would be created if they leave. Germany had taken in many Syrian immigrants, many physicians and many working in important jobs in various sectors. The problems that would arise if they returned home are not to be underestimated. Is the same not true for Turkey? Many employers, particularly in textiles, industry and agriculture, have already begun to voice the concern that the great gap that would arise if Syrians return would deal a heavy blow to many sectors.

The circles that hoped for political rent from anti-Syrian sentiment have completely lost their ground these days. The Syrian Revolution has dried up all their sources of livelihood. So the presence of Syrians was providing a great opportunity for these racist opportunists. So much so that it should not surprise us at all if some of them now come forward, saying "we were never anti-Syrian anyway," and open new stalls suited to the new situation. Just as we should not be surprised by what CHP Chairman Özgür Özel said during his visit to the earthquake zone. Özel said, "We as the CHP were never enemies of refugees." How much he trusts that human memory is afflicted with forgetfulness. His predecessor earlier had played a similar joke by saying "we were never against the headscarf."

The CHP expects us to forget that, when there was not yet the slightest discomfort about Syrians in society, it stirred up this issue with a thoroughly fascistic racism, as if putting a watermelon rind in people's minds. The sound of the drums and zurnas from the idea of sending Syrians off "with drums and zurnas" in the election campaigns is still in our ears. Against the campaigns they ran, saying "Syrians will go!" on billboards, syllable by syllable, are we to take it as a good omen that they now say they were never anti-Syrian? And what of the unlawful discrimination of the Bolu and Afyon municipalities, which was no less than the Nazis'?

Özel went on: "...but we stood against the policies and the politicians that created refugees." That is, in case there are those who will not forget these fascistic attitudes, he will cite the policies that produce refugees as an excuse. Fine, but who produced those policies? Did Turkey produce them? Was it Turkey that rained bombs on them and piled millions of people up at its own border?

This, of course, is another refrain clung to by those who cannot bring themselves to defend Assad, whose murderousness and criminality have come to light. Why would Turkey follow a policy that would produce refugees? What benefit could it have hoped for from this? Policies that produce refugees mean nothing other than saying that Assad, who killed 1-2 million of his own people by bombing them or in prison torture and who displaced 12 million, had no sin at all. His policies did not produce refugees, but opening the doors to the "human beings" fleeing to escape his bombs was "policies that produce refugees."

Özel did not stop there; he also deigned to say: "In Syria there is a need for an inclusive transitional government that will represent Kurds, Arabs, Turkmens and non-Muslims alike, then for constitutional work, free elections and stability. Without this being achieved, every passing day the lives of the relatives there of our Arab and Alevi citizens in Hatay are in danger and they are worried."

One feels some shame in saying this. For years we have said that the oppression in Syria had no Alevi or Sunni. The present revolution too distinguishes no one as Alevi or Sunni, but the "anti-Syrian sentiment" that the CHP has represented until now shows nothing other than a sectarianism displayed precisely against protecting the many people who were massacred and displaced.