Turkey’s Syrian Refugee Crisis and the Challenges of EU-Turkish Relations

Due to its long land border with Syria, Turkey became the first target country for those Syrians who escaped the civil war, which was triggered by the brutal suppression of opposition protests by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in 2011, and Turkey is currently home to at least four million Syrian refugees.

Although Syrians were once welcomed in Turkey, public sentiment has now turned against them, and they have become a favorite target of nationalist politicians who try to blame foreigners for the country’s economic woes.

Erdogan has condemned the Turks for attacking the refugees, but succumbing to public pressure, he has promised to relocate millions of Syrians to the opposition-controlled areas of Syria.

Kilicdaroglu, who has expressed his determination to improve Turkey’s reputation in the field of human rights, largely agrees with Erdogan on the issue of refugee policy, stating that the EU should give funds to Turkish builders for the reconstruction of certain areas of Syria in order to resettle refugees. Otherwise, Kilicdaroglu threatened to open the borders so that “refugees can go where they want”.

Regardless of who wins the election, other “stumbling blocks” will remain in Ankara-Brussels relations, including the Cyprus issue. Although few are ready to admit it out loud, there are also few Europeans who would be willing to open the doors of the EU to a country with such a large number of relatively poor people who are also Muslim.

“Some in the EU might prefer an authoritarian leader in the neighborhood and transactional relations with Turkey, rather than seriously devoting themselves to its reception,” Galip Dalais, an expert on Turkish affairs at the Chatham House think tank, admits. “A democratic Turkey will cause many more problems for Europe.”