Photo: Bulgaria ON AIR
After Hell in Turkey and Syria – will the refugee problem deepen? Speak, Prof. Vladimir Chukov
“It cannot be that after 11 years of civil war and constant bombardment, distrust of the Syrian president will return as if nothing had happened. People are victims of this earthquake. Aid must reach them. At the upcoming meeting of the UN Security Council, it will be discussed the problem of humanitarian aid. The US says to open all checkpoints, while Syria wants aid to go from south to north,” commented Arabist Prof. Vladimir Chukov in the studio of “Day ON AIR”.
The guest emphasized that even to this day, a week after the earthquake, there are settlements in Syria that no one has paid attention to. He emphasized, however, that before outside help is requested, he must put his own country in order. And Bashar Assad gathered the ministers in one meeting after the earthquake and that was it.
“It shocks me that on the fourth day Assad went to Aleppo. About 30 Russian soldiers were involved in Aleppo. It is suggested that in Turkey the casualties are over 30,000, but it will probably be twice the casualties in Izmir, or about 60 000. The problem is that there are too many people left without homes,” predicted the Arabist.
He emphasized to Bulgaria ON AIR that Erdogan was also late with his reaction – mainly with the delay in sending military personnel to help the affected areas.
“Erdogan brought in the army 3 days after the earthquake, the military did not spare him criticism. The earthquake will have an impact on the elections, which are scheduled for May 14. Then presidential and parliamentary elections must be held. The question is where they will be held in these 10 provinces, separately how they will get these people to vote. It is noticeable that in the first days the opposition was very harsh, now it has softened the tone. There will be very strong attacks to postpone the elections, which is not in favor of Erdogan,” predicted Prof. Chukov .
He is convinced that Turkey will not allow a new wave of refugees, even though in Syria more than 5,300 million people have been left without a roof. The Arabist emphasized that the most affected areas in Syria are the areas controlled by the rebels, where the biggest waves of refugees came from.
