Western hypocrisy: Doesn't Want Migration from the Middle East, but Embraces Ukrainians
“Someone has to initiate the peace. Just like he started the war!”
Stefan Zweig
Situation
The war between Russia and Ukraine, which started on February 24, continues with all its destructiveness. Since the Moscow and Kyiv governments want to end the war in their own favor and in line with their national interests, the talks do not yield positive results. In all countries of the world, the causes of the war and the devastation it will cause are being calculated and discussed. Another aspect of the war that has been discussed and worried is the spread of the war to other geographies, especially to NATO, and the concern about the use of nuclear weapons.
Refugee Crisis Continues
On the one hand, tens of thousands of demonstrators in many countries against the Russian invasion of Ukraine are protesting the war against Russia's attacks on Ukraine with banners that read "Stop the war, save Ukraine", "Putin get out of Ukraine". Immigration from Ukraine to the regions that are thought to be safer in Europe and outside Europe has started.According to UN data, more than half of the Ukrainian refugees crossed into Poland, followed by Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia, Romania and other European countries, respectively.According to international organizations, , the mass migration that started from Ukraine is the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since the end of the Second World War, and the world is facing a major migration crisis from the migration wave caused by the Syrian War.
Migration Movement from Ukraine to Europe
Wars are the main reason for politically motivated migrations. From the earliest times to the present, massive forced migrations have occurred due to wars. There are two aspects of mass migration that started from Ukraine, where we live today.
The two discussed aspects of the mass migration from Ukraine are;
- Positive discrimination by European countries to the Ukrainian people
- The discriminatory attitudes of European countries towards asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa
The discriminatory practices against refugees of different races fleeing Ukraine from media reports and Twitter posts caused reactions. Antonio Vitorino, Director-General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), affiliated to the United Nations (UN), expressed his reaction on this issue by emphasizing that “reports that foreign nationals leaving Ukraine are exposed to xenophobia, violence and discrimination in neighboring countries are alarming and said, “Race, nationality and Discrimination on the basis of immigration status is never acceptable”.
The answer to the questions of why Europe embraces those coming from Ukraine and why it does not want Syrian and Afghan refugees is in the economic and socio-cultural changes that are thought to be caused by the phenomenon of migration in a society and the migration policies of the EU.
Migrations Continue
Migration; It is a population movement that brings about significant changes in the social structure with its economic, political, cultural and social dimensions. In this context, it creates a serious change in the social and spatial structure. With the migration movement, immigrants not only carry their physical existence but also the socio-cultural effects of the settlement they came from to the new settlement to which they migrated and create cultural interaction. The most important factor determining this cultural interaction is whether immigrants have socio-cultural differences with those living in the new settlement they migrated to. The degree of this difference is decisive in the integration with the new social structure. In other words, interaction and harmony are more difficult when socio-cultural differences are evident. There is a reciprocal relationship between migration and culture. Migration is the strongest element of social changes and brings together communities with different physical structures, religions, cultures and languages. In societies where this interaction is problematic, separation and assimilation problems occur, and in societies where this interaction is problem-free, social change is seen as a result of acculturation and integration.
What is the attitude of European Union countries towards immigrants?
We see that the EU structured its migration policies by considering two important issues. One of them is the rapidly aging European population, and the other is the labor market deficits. Since immigrants are accepted within this framework, people who can benefit Europe are considered as immigrants and refugees. The population growth of EU countries is gradually decreasing. In the population; While the number of old people is increasing, the number of young people is decreasing. The number of immigrants is also increasing. For example, Europe experienced an unprecedented influx of refugees and migrants in 2015 and 2016. More than 1 million people have arrived in the European Union, most of them fleeing war and terrorism in Syria and other countries such as Syria.
The largest group of immigrants were those from Syria, followed by those from Iraq and Afghanistan. Moreover, the immigrants who came were not at all like the average immigrant in Europe. The people who came no longer had a home to return to. This situation was also different from the refugee situation. For example, second-generation Palestinian immigrants wanted to return to their land to rebuild their homes. But the new type of immigrants had no thought of returning home.
Immigrants or foreigners were more visible in Europe. As the number of immigrants in European countries increased, the encounters of Islam and other different cultures in urban spaces intensified. For example, mosques, kebab shops, halal food shops, headscarved women and bearded men began to appear in the architecture and streets of the city. In addition, for the European people who were accustomed to certain living standards of the society, people coming from outside were displaying attitudes contrary to the habits of the society. The late adaptation to the basic rules of the society or their trying to express this harmony in their own way began to be seen as a danger for the European society over time. The most important issue for the European Union is now keeping the immigrants out of Europe.
Europe's Attraction for Refugees
The fact that Europe is faced with a migration crisis is because the European continent has always been the target country for migration. The Migrant Crisis begins with the Arab Spring and the outbreak of the civil war in Syria, with thousands of people leaving their homes to escape the war. Migration flows to Europe consist of people fleeing poverty and conflicts from Africa and the Middle East. Moreover, most of the asylum seekers seek asylum from European countries in order to obtain better living conditions, except for the applications that comply with the international protection requirements. The policies followed by European governments for this group of refugees, called economic migrants, are strict. Asylum seekers are either repatriated or returned to the transit country. In particular, the flows from Africa are mainly due to economic reasons. Europe has certain obligations within the framework of asylum procedures, such as accepting asylum applications and coordinating and evaluating the international protection process. However, most of the people who come to Europe for asylum are economic migrants and people who claim to be in a difficult situation cannot apply for refugee status. Europe is not obliged to accept every application.
European Union's Migration Policies
After the September 11 attacks, the EU not only increased its measures to prevent entry into its borders, but also followed a policy of intervening in the 3rd country and resolving the problem in the neighboring country or the current country before refugees and asylum seekers entered its borders. With this policy, the EU tried to ensure that people who want to take refuge or immigrate to Europe stay in their country or go to the nearest border neighbor of the problem country. He tried to solve this by providing financial support to third countries far from the EU border. In this context, the EU made an agreement with Turkey, which is a transit country for the vast majority of refugees from the Middle East, in order to both tighten the security of its external borders and close the Balkan migration route, committing to pay 3 billion Euros in 2016. Thus, EU countries prevented the refugees from Syria from crossing to Europe, enabled Turkey to host those trying to cross into Europe, and got rid of the burden that it thought would be too much. Thanks to these measures, the Europeans were able to regain control of the situation and significantly reduced the flow of immigrants.
According to the research conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2015; Citizens of European countries listed the reasons for their opposition to immigrants as follows:
Fear of unemployment: They do not want immigrants because they see immigrants as a burden for their country and they think they get their jobs and social rights, and also because they think that if immigrants come, unemployment will increase in their country and they will be unemployed. The country where this fear is highest is Hungary with 66%.
Welfare level: The rate of those who say that the arrival of immigrants affects our level of welfare, living conditions will become difficult is at the highest level in the Czech Republic with 63 percent.
Cultural threat: The rate of those who see immigrants as a cultural threat is highest in Hungary at 51 percent, followed by England at 50 percent. Austria comes in third place with 50 percent.
Religious threat: Czech Republic (58%), France (55%) and England (55%) are the countries with the highest number of people who say that the arrival of immigrants will pose a threat to our religion.
The rate of crime increases: The rate of those who are against immigrants is the highest in Austria with 70 percent, with the thought that immigrants who will come to the country will increase the rate of crime in the country. Next comes Norway with 68 percent and the Czech Republic with 67 percent.
Immigration Problem and Different Perceptions in Europe
Europeans do not want immigrants from the Middle East, Syria or Africa, because they blame these immigrants for the decline in their welfare and they are worried. While concerns about economic distress were at the top until 2016, terrorism, which is associated with the discomfort felt by immigration and immigrants, ranks first after 2016. The 2008 global economic crisis affected the EU as well as the whole world, resulting in increased unemployment, decreased welfare and adversely affected living standards. Since the beginning of the 2000s, far-right parties have been on the rise. In the axis of terrorist acts and attacks that occur from time to time in Europe, the immigrant crisis and the fact that those who came to the EU have a predominantly Muslim population have increased security concerns. Economic, political, security problems and socio-cultural factors are the main reasons for the rise of the far right and racism. The increase in xenophobia and racism in Europe and the increase in the vote rates of far-right parties with anti-immigrant rhetoric are parallel to each other.
In short, the European Union is a structure shaped by its citizens. For this reason, the attitudes of European Union citizens towards immigrants also affect the political structure of the European Union member states and the European Union. In this context, there is an economically centered view of immigrants in EU countries. There is a case of valuing the immigrant not because he is a person living there on his own, but to the extent that it brings economic return to the country where he stays. There is an understanding that manifests itself in the form of 'tolerance' as long as the migrant provides 'economic benefits'. The best example of this approach is that Jean Louis Bourlanges, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the French National Assembly, evaluated the immigration wave from Ukraine as a high-quality immigration that could be turned into an opportunity, with the expression "a qualified immigration that they can turn into an opportunity".
EU countries consider immigrants from Syria and Afghanistan to be culturally different from their own. Middle Eastern, Muslim, Afghan, African etc. coming from outside Europe. They think that they will have difficulty integrating refugees into European culture and social life, let alone assimilation. In the accepted immigrants, on the other hand, individuals with a high level of education and with whom assimilation can be successfully carried out in the context of religious values are preferred. Europeans have been more willing to accept as refugees peoples they feel culturally closer to. Some Eastern European countries have even made it clear that they do not want Muslim refugees but are ready to accept Christians. Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which are known as Visegrad countries, do not want immigrants, but especially Muslim immigrants. Hungarian leader Viktor Orban said at every opportunity that “Islam cannot be a part of European civilization” and saw Syrian refugees as a threat to the security of the EU and the future of Europe.
Migration from Ukraine to European countries
As for the migration from Ukraine to European countries in the Russia-Ukraine war; Despite the fact that it is considered as a greater migration crisis than the migration that started after the Syrian war, all European countries have embraced the Ukrainian refugees. The European Union Council Directive (Temporary Protection Directive) dated 20 July 2001 and numbered 2001/55/EC (EC) put into effect for the first time for Ukrainian immigrants (after the wars and events in the former Yugoslavia countries in the 1990s, a large number of people had to leave their country. came out later, but has not been implemented until now). With the implementation of this directive, Ukrainian immigrants will be accepted by the relevant countries with special protection status without the need for asylum status. The "protection status", which was valid for 1 year at first, can be extended up to 3 years. Protection status includes access to social assistance and work permits for Ukrainian immigrants. In addition, Ukrainians have the right to visa-free travel in Europe. No one in Europe has to make a decision to let them in. All of them already have the right to come as tourists for 3 months. According to the data of Eurostat, the European Statistical Office, Ukrainian citizens are at the forefront of those who have legally immigrated to Western European countries since 2014, and 302 thousand Ukrainian citizens obtained a residence permit in European countries in 2014.
Conclusion
They share stronger historical and cultural ties with Ukraine. Therefore, they have a much more positive view of Ukrainian refugees. So much so that as soon as the war started, neighboring countries announced that they would accept refugees from Ukraine. In Poland, immigration reception centers were established at the border for immigrants from Ukraine. Germany has announced that it will support Eastern European countries that accept immigrants. Some European media and academics see Ukrainian immigrants as “blonde, blue-eyed and European” as eligible for asylum.
References
https://www.haberankara.com/dunya/ukraine-dan-goc-suruygu-h190517.html
https://www.europeantimes.news/en/2022/03/1113192/
https://iibfdergi.sdu.edu.tr/assets/uploads/sites/352/files/yil-2016-cilt-21-sayi-4-yazi12-27102016.pdf
https://www.diplomatikstrateji.com/avrupada-islamofobi-ve-yabanci-dusmanligi/
https://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-dunya-37533504
