Now in its fifth year, the civil war in Syria has created one of the world’s
largest humanitarian and security crises. The crisis in itself contains the historical background
to the situation of Syrian refugees. While the issue is subject to another discussion,
it is important to refer to the Muslim refugee problem for a better understanding of today’s
situation. Approaches to the Muslim refugee crisis differ considerably throughout the world.
Probably the most striking point is that while the West has sheltered Muslims, providing
them with homes and jobs, the neighbouring countries sharing the same religion have ignored
the Muslim population and done nothing. This is an important criticism directed at fellow
Arabs who have always blamed the West for the refugee crisis and will be addressed in
the article in detail. The number of Syrians seeking refuge in Turkey is currently close to
2 million. Turkey, implementing an “open door” policy to every Syrian crossing the border
and issuing “temporary protection” status, has spent 5 billion dollars on the refugee crisis
up to November 2014. For the Syrians in Turkey, the possibility of returning to their own
country has been gradually decreasing due to the escalation of the civil war. The situation
revealing the severity of the situation of Syrian asylum seekers points out that the issue
has evolved into a complex problem that requires a multi-dimensional analysis in all its
humanitarian, legal, political, social and financial aspects. This article is written mainly
based on online research and a deep assessment of reports prepared by GOs, NGOs, the
UN and other international agencies and various news pieces and articles. The policy of the
Turkish Government has also been closely analysed by including the discourse of President
of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in relation to the civil war that has
evolved into a global refugee and human security crisis demanding urgent and coordinated
humanitarian actions, apart from the military and political response.This article tries to
explain Syrian asylum seekers’ position in Turkey and Turkey’s position from the perspective
of human security and the rest of the world’s perception.
