Why I would vote No in Referendum for Turkish Citizenship to Syrian Refugees
Let`s start from title. As of today there is no referendum about citizenship of Syrian refugees so my title is theoretical. However, after latest comments from President Erdogan about possibility of citizenship for refugees, instead of start talking about that I stepped back and asked myself. If someone would ask me about that what would be my answer ?
On the top I expressed clearly that if someone would ask me my answer would be no. However, before talking about reasons I should make a few points clear.
First of all refugee crisis is not fault of refugees. We (Turkey, European Countries and US) created that problem all together. Maybe it was not us. It was adventurous politicians but at least we did not stop them. Because of warm winds of Arab Spring instead of thinking rational, possibility of Bessar Esad`s falling down was a lot tempting to us. As a result refugee crisis is our fault so there is no rationale behind accusing refugees.
Secondly, as we are all responsible for refugee crisis it is our responsibility to support refugees. I know even for the wealthiest countries in the world it is not easy to give a new life to millions of refugees but all countries should do their best. This responsibility is inheritance from humanity and we cannot avoid that.
After make two crucial points clear let`s discuss about why I am not in favor of giving Turkish citizenship to Syrian refugees. To make it follow easier I will discuss my reasons with bullet points.
- I do not know who they are
I know maybe it looks a bit ignorant but honestly I do not know who Syrian refugees are. I even do not know exact number of refugees in Turkey because border gate between Syria and Turkey is like open gate now and every day thousands of people can move from one country to another. Furthermore, all my understanding about Syrian refugees are from what I see on news and it is not enough to know about that people.
2. Sudden Change in Voting Power
If it is true, government is working on legislation about citizenship and there would be around 3 million refugees (1 million at the voting age) could get the citizenship. Roughly there are 50 million of voters in Turkey and 1 million new voters equal to 2% of total voting power.
Political environment of Turkey is full of issues. Islamic tendencies of government, step backs from democracy and one-man show of President are the biggest issues and I do not know how new 2% of voters will take position about that issues. I do not want to say Syrian refugees will automatically support current ruling party and president but if it will be case than fight for democracy and freedom will be hurt even more.
3. Chronic Issues with Minorities
From the first day of republic Turkey has always been reluctant to give their rights to minorities. It is a huge topic but basically historical one-type citizen point-of-view of governments always preferred to repress minorities including 14 million Kurdish minority and others. As a result for more than 30 years there is war between Turkish army and Kurdish armed group PKK and it is the biggest issue that hinders democratization of country.
Shortly, when Syrian refugees get citizenship most probably they would be second or third largest minorities in country and unfortunately it is quite possible that country will have another issue with new minority group.
To sum up, like the other countries in the world Turkey has to do its best to accommodate and give new life to refugees. It is responsibility of country but in my opinion to give citizenship is not the only way to do that. With new legislations it is quite possible to engage refugees into country. Furthermore, as citizens it is our duty to stand against all racist approaches against refugees. As I mentioned above we are all responsible of refugee crisis and it is time to take action.
