According to the data released by the German Federal Statistical Office and published in the newspapers, more than 26% (21.2 million) of Germany's population of 83 million consists of those who qualify as "immigrants". The same sources stated that the largest “minority” in this group consists of people of Turkish origin which make up 13% (Turkish chauvinist writers gave it as Turkish).
There is a total of two hundred million people in the world, who are seen as "foreign" in many countries, especially in Western European countries, the USA and Australia, some of whom have left their lands decades ago, but most of them have left their lands for economic reasons or because of wars in the last decades. Among these countries, Turkey is one of the countries in which the "migrant-refugee-asylum seeker" debate has flared up, especially in the last ten years, as it is a country where most are those that have left their countries due to the "civil wars" in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. The majority of the “refugees” in Turkey are made up of these three countries, as well as other Middle Eastern countries and North African origins. This large population migration, which is assumed to be around 5 million in total, and which is stated to be 3.5-4 million according to official statements, did not occur as a spontaneous-natural economic migration. The policy of the Turkish bourgeois state power, in cooperation with American imperialism, to change the governments of the countries in question (Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and later Libya) and to form new governments in reconciliation with them, the policy of forming warring groups within the country and then the direct attack and occupation policy through them, triggered the flow and made it happen.
Erdogan's government, by establishing and using combat units, mostly Al-Qaeda members who fled from countries such as Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan in the past, or who are still ready to become mercenaries, has established a position in Syria and Iraq. He regarded creating areas of conquest in Iraq as a necessity of his expansionist policy. From the arming of those fighting against the Syrian government to the treatment of the injured in the hospitals set up along the border, in all areas, an external attack shaped by taking advantage of internal contradictions was planned and implemented together with the imperialists.
The “refugee problem” that Turkey is currently experiencing – which maintains the law of not recognizing such a status for those belonging to the countries that fall to its East – is thus entangled with the policies of a collaborator of imperialism but an administration that labels itself as “national”.
The "migrant" population and the "refugee" problem, which is mentioned by being included in it, but shaped by a bourgeois right provided by the struggle in the international arena, has been a problem in the domestic politics of countries, more strikingly in various periods, depending on international developments. Although the scope of the economic-social problems faced by the immigrant population wherever they go, they were seen as “undesirable” by some of the people from the settled population. Apart from those who went from one country to another, those who went to the city centres from the rural areas of the same country, especially if it is known that they are of Kurdish, Arab, Zaza, Armenian and Greek origin, as in our case, they had to face great hardships. Aside from internal migration, these "later arrivals", which can be referred to as external migration, are stigmatized by the insignificant segments of the people living in the lands they came from, regardless of their reason for coming, with the concern of "sharing their bread and business" and the resulting deprivation of rights, limitations, low wages and unemployment, such as capitalism. They have been shown as the cause of related problems and have been targeted in the direction of chauvinist policies.
It is clear that this is not due to purely propagandistic consequences. The objective situation, the obstacles to unification and integration create factual factors, these obstacles become the material of chauvinist nationalist and reactionary policies, which in turn fuels-nurtures the “violence and discriminatory practices against minorities” and causes them to find strength.
While the size of the discussions on the solution of the problem is growing, including the frightening consequences, it is of great importance that workers from different national origins do not become instruments of policies in favour of capital against each other, no matter what reason they came to Turkey by leaving their homeland. The "we will send it back"-"you can't send it back" debate carried on by the "Nation Alliance"-"The People's Alliance" parties is open to unexpected attacks and provocations.
Chauvinist-fascist policies make exploiting these national differences the stuff of fattening in a multinational country. This is now the scene of the Turkish bourgeois policy. The situation of very large segments, which is highly likely to be used as a support mass for cheap labour and reactionary policies, is a potential cause of conflict under the conditions of the existence of unemployed-poor millions. This is now being experienced from one end, and is encouraged by politicians from CHP, IP, and MHP (Republican People’s Party, Well Party and Nationalist Movement Party). There is no assurance that the fascist-chauvinist attack on the seasonal or permanent Kurdish workers will not be directed against Arab origins "tomorrow-afternoon". Turkey has become more open than before to conflicts and conflicts stemming from the national problem(s) that the dictatorship of capital has never stopped using to maintain itself. Regardless of their permanence, the current concrete situation points to this, and the chauvinist aggression against the Kurds and the continued attack on the demands for national equality also herald what will happen to the Arab population if they are permanent. In the face of this situation, which is convenient to create a Turkish-Kurdish, Turkish-Arab, Arab-Kurdish "national-oriented" conflict, a correct policy can only be developed with the efforts of advanced-conscious sections of workers and laborers. The only thing that can be done to prevent a problem that belongs to those who implement a war policy in the region with expansionist imperial ambitions is to unite around economic-social demands. It is an urgent need for all workers and all peoples of the region to put an end to the ongoing war policies in the region in various forms. Taking part in the struggle for this is Syrian-Iraqi-Afghan etc. It is also the responsibility of the workers. They should be together with the struggling workers and laborers of all nationalities, progressive intellectuals and revolutionary youth of Turkey, so that the troubles they face do not get worse because they backed up Erdogan's policies. It is not possible for other types of “guarantees” to produce a reliable-permanent result.
A. Cihan Soylu
Aras Coşkuntuncel
