Studies related to the future of the Syrian children and youth fleeing the war in Syria into Turkey was addressed in the “Syrian Refugees İstanbul Summit” held in Bahçeşehir University with the participation of prominent Turkish and international experts on migration.
Bahçeşehir University’s Head of Board of Trustees Enver Yücel delivered a speech in the summit hosting Turkish and international experts alongside with the members of Forum on the Investment into the Youths’ Future within the American Sciences Academy. Yücel noted that Europe started on bargaining rather than supporting the refugees and what sank in the Aegean Sea are not the dead bodies of the babies but the “humanity” indeed. Yücel, noting that Bahçeşehir University always kept this issue as a top item on its agenda since the very beginning of the Civil War in Syria, went on as follows: “We set up migration centers pertaining to those issues. We conducted field studies. We address this issue not only in Turkey but also on each and every platform we join from the US all the way down to Europe. Our goal is to make the issue heard of not only via the public discourse but also with the endorsement of the universities and the non-governmental organizations.”
“IT IS INDECENT FOR EUROPE TO DO MONETARY BARGAINING”
Enver Yücel, underscoring the fact that the biggest challenge since the start of the migration four years ago has been the perspective of the world towards this problem, continued his words as follows: “The civil war giving rise to this migration is not a problem of Turkey, Lebanon or Jordan. No human being, no country, no society can say, “Do not enter, do not come into our land, do perish” to the people fleeing the war, and they should not say so. Europe says we do not take them in, you should keep them and we will give money on top of it. I am of the opinion that it is not a decent approach. World failed in tackling the refugee issues, to put it mildly. What sank in the Aegean Sea are not the dead bodies of the babies but the “humanity” indeed. Humanitarian values should not perish. We need to come up with measures and remedies to re-salvage humanity. What we do observe does no abide by the values of the European Union. On the one hand, you claim that world peace, humanity and inter-cultural dialogue is of utmost importance, on the other hand, you shut down the borders. EU is bargaining over the money they will donate which is like 3-5 billion dollars. Then I raise a question to Europe: What is the price of refugee for you?”
“EUROPE IS TO SHOULDER RESPONSIBILIY”
Former Minister of National Education Nimet Baş, noting that world faces such a huge problem for the very first time since the Second World War made the following statements: “People are not able to go to wherever they would like to go. I presume the borders drawn on earth and the sovereigns setting those borders will not function as the humanity dies away. As long as those children and women are out on the street, none of us will be safe. It is not a problem of Turkey merely. Western world also needs to focus on the problem in an integrated manner, allocate budget to it and shoulder responsibility to solve it out.”
Head of the Bahçeşehir University’s Department of Politics and International Relations Prof. Dr. Gülnur Aybet, elaborated on the work pertaining to the Syrian crisis. “We are looking into the impact of this crisis over Turkey, and the relationship between border migration, security, state, and society. Alongside with that we address the crisis management related to the legislation. We are going to conduct a huge number of researches in the camps. We are going to ramp up the fieldwork in the days ahead. We are going to go for the regions where the refugees pile up the most. 100 thousands of children can’t receive proper education in refugee camps. The big picture does not seem very much promising. European Union has not settled a policy yet. The Middle Eastern map is being updated every week. We need multi faceted science in the face of it”, she said.
TURKISH COURSES TO 300 THOUSAND REFUGEES
The founder director of BAU Center of Migration and Urban Studies BAUMUS, Assistant Professor Ulaş Sanata dwelled on the project that aims to tackle the Syrian refugee problem. Sunata maintained that they aim to make people aware of the fact that Turkey is not a host or shelterer country anymore but a direct receiver country. Sunata went on as follows: “In this regard, as Bahçeşehir University, we believe that the priority should be education. Since education is a phenomenon that might solve out various issues, particularly problems related to security could be eliminated via education. In a similar vein, education is indispensible for the refugees since they might access health, education and employment opportunities once trained. Our first topic within the scope of education is Turkish. We might say that we initiated a huge campaign in which 300 thousand Syrians will learn Turkish this summer. We will carry out this project with the assistance of 7 thousand 500 teachers in 15 classrooms.”
ONE REFUGEE LEAVES HIS/HER HOMETOWN EVERY 3 MINUTES
New York University’s Associate Professor Selçuk Şirin, noted that one refugee leaves his/her hometown every 3 minutes and went on as follows: “According to the latest researches, more than 60 million refugees populate the world. For the first time ever we have so many homeless people. More than half of the refugees are under the age of 18. More than 40% of them are under the age of 12. The rate of the 0-6 years of refugees is also increasing. This summer Bahçeşehir University undertakes an attempt of teaching Turkish to children via a formal education of 4-months. A significant part of almost 1 million refugee children does not speak Turkish. Those children do not reside in provinces close to the borders but in İstanbul, İzmir and Konya provinces. 300 thousand of those children will be taught Turkish within the scope of this project. They will be getting 320-hours of Turkish courses in total, which translates into 4 hours of Turkish courses per day, 20 hours per week, and 80 hours per month. If Turkey can’t educate those children, then please have a look at the Pakistani- Afghanistan border to see what the consequences might be like.”
TR
