What should be our immigration policy and how do we implement it?

In Turkey, just like the country is becoming trapped in bipolar bourgeois politics, the discussions around immigration policies also serve to function as an artificial division and trap the labourers into a vicious circle. As is there is no other choice!

The National Alliance [consisting of the main parties in the opposition], which is increasingly led by the Iyi Parti [Good Party, which claims to be a centre-right conservative party], looks at the public opinion poll results and presses on the gas pedal on the issue of anti-refugee sentiments. This can be crosschecked by the statements of the [main opposition Republican People's Party] CHP representatives. In response, Erdogan, leader of the People's Alliance, said, "The refugees have taken refuge with us and ask for mercy. We cannot say to them 'Go back to where you came from'". So, do these refugees Erdogan is referring to have refugee status? No!  In fact, this is what aligns both political poles: i.e. they both see refugees as "guests" who do not have any rights.

The debate over the recent Afghan migrants flow has reignited the general discussions over immigration. To put it clearly: this society needs another immigration policy apart from the bourgeois bipolar policies it has been subjected to. While we socialists are proposing a third political option for the country; we are also proposing this option to encompass the issues over migration, refugees and their solutions. So, what is our difference and what kind of solutions are we socialists proposing? It is difficult to provide a complete answer within the bounds of an article. For this reason, I have tried to focus on the current discussions around the issue and have summarized the alternatives under five main points:

1- Following the Syrian exodus, the great Afghanistan exodus is on the way. Migration branches from Pakistan, Iran and African countries continue to flow into Turkey. The flow of migrant workers from the north also continues. The big issue we now face is that Turkey used to be seen merely as a transit country for migrants, namely, it was used as a bridge to go to Europe or other Western countries. However, following the “Reacceptance Agreement” between the ruling AKP and the EU, we have become the EU's migrant repository! This is an imperialist migration strategy and the AKP is a collaborator and partner in this strategy. We are going to cancel this agreement and pave the way for refugees to apply for asylum in a third country other than Turkey. This solution will give comfort both to refugees and to the indigenous people who live with them.

2- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has left almost all powers to the Interior Ministry's Directorate General for Migration Management and fled the field. The AKP approved this move. However, this is not good practice because the asylum application and the refugee process should be done under UN supervision and international protection. We are going to put pressure on the UN to take responsibility again. Moreover, the 5 million refugees living in Turkey should be shared by internationally under UN supervision. The states responsible for war, hunger and poverty cannot escape from the intake of refugees! Otherwise, our position will not be to sign agreements with imperialist states against refugee crossings. On the contrary, our position will be to facilitate refugee crossings, to stand by the refugees and their right to asylum. Together with our people and refugees, we will fight for this against imperialist countries.  We will also remove the ‘geographical division’ which disadvantages those coming from the east and removes them of their refugee status. We will achieve this by opening the way to international asylum.

3- The problems accumulated in ten years cannot be solved in one day! Those who claim otherwise or who say they will send Syrians back in one day when they come to power are causing social tensions to be elevated through their populist policies. This view of politics provokes native people against refugees and invites chauvinist attacks. So, what do we socialists say we are going to do? We will end the practice of "temporary protection" which turns temporariness into a permanent state. Because, as with the Syrian exodus, there cannot be 10 years of "hospitality" or temporariness! Ten years is more than enough time for Syrians to transition to refugee status and gradually naturalized citizenship. Of course, the criteria set by international laws will be used as a guidance. Without putting in place the necessary structures required for this transition, you cannot promise, like AKP has done previously, to “grant citizenship for all overnight”. Such promises are not realistic. In fact, it is a call for crisis. For example, those who have been involved in war crimes would be exempt from such rights. Those refugees wishing to return to their home countries or the country they came from should be supported through "safe and open routes". This will all be undertaken within an anti-imperialist and peaceful context. For those refugees wishing to return guarantees and international protection condition will be the base. No one will be deported until these conditions are met. Above al,l no refugee will be deported without their consent. Together we will create the social and cultural infrastructure of life for those choosing to remain and those that were born in Turkey.

4- We will grant residence permits to all refugees and refugee workers will have work permits. That way, we will stop the abuse of refugee work force by the bosses by way of cheap labour. We will stop the competition between migrant and domestic workers. Work permits will not be subjected to employers' approval like today. This way we will break the chains of slavery. Factories and workshops will be prohibited from employing illegal workers on day or night shifts. The bosses will be subjected to severe sanctions and diligence to prevent this. We will grant migrant workers their right to organize and join unions. Indigenous and migrant workers will not compete each other over pay rates. They will be offered equal social rights and humane rates and work side by side. The common struggle for rights will pave the way for class brotherhood. We will end the practice of "insurance exemptions" imposed on agricultural workforce, ending the practice of enslavement for the refugees. We will get child workers into education. Our first task will be to identify missing refugee children and protect them from all forms of abuse. Furthermore, we will prevent girls and refugee women from being bought and sold as [unofficial] wives.

5- Under no circumstances should migrants and refugees be made the topic of demographic politics, nor should they be used for expansionist policies. Refugees are not guests or a subject of neo-Ottomanist "ummah [religious community] politics". Refugees are human beings with their individual rights. The cause of migration is not the migrants or refugees but the imperialist system itself. Imperialism constantly produces migration. We will end the era of collaborating with the imperialists in our foreign policy. We will not become the imperialists' partner in crime. In our government, we will raise our hands in support of peace, not war. We will exit NATO. Migration and refugee policies are not issues separate from politics. We will defend a socialist immigration policy based on the unity of the workers to replace the current imperialist capitalist migration policies.

The emancipation of the working class, our people and refugees are a common struggle. This constitutes the third option where we should unite in the struggle for labour, democracy, independence, freedom and socialism.