The past few months’ developments in Afghanistan have shifted the national attention towards a new immigration wave. Erdogan’s AKP (Justice and Development Party) regime has announced its desire to fill in the void left by the withdrawal of US troops from the country. Already having faced a deadlock in the Syrian Civil War, the regime is once again trying its “chance” in Afghanistan.
In absolute numbers, Turkey is the country that is home to the highest number of refugees in the world. This situation is a product of the decisions made by the AKP regime. The regime, first through its participation in the civil war in Syria, then through arrangements made with other countries, has made Turkey into a country that “plays” irregular immigration and refugee movement. Through turning this situation into a bargaining chip in relationships of dependency set up with the EU, the US and with the Gulf states, the regime profits from the crisis. The 2016 return deal with the EU is built on such premises, and has fixed Turkey’s position as a center of refugee control in international capitalism. The Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP) argues for the immediate annulment of this arrangement.
TİP advocates for the right of asylum & the designation of refugee status for foreign citizens who face discrimination and threat of life. In contrast, capitalist entities (like the US and the EU) repel refugees who press in at their borders in transgression of international law and regulate incoming workforce at will with no regard for any universality. In such an unequal conjuncture, it is not realistic to advocate for an open-door policy in Turkey. What is necessary to develop is a border and immigrations policy that stands with refugee & asylum rights as well as with public good & welfare, a policy that is not bound to the ideological decisions and aspirations of the current regime.
By forwarding no concrete plan concerning their future, the AKP regime has calcified the precarious position of a population of refugees vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, separated out from the general populace of Turkey. One of the things that has made the “management” of this population of refugees profitable for the AKP regime is the cheap & prostrate labor-power it provides for the boundless use of capital.
It is natural for our people to grow concern at such a situation. On the other hand, it is a deception to place blame on the refugees, and to provide as a solution, their deportation.
It is a fact that unemployment is worsening in Turkey; but a citizen of Turkey is not unemployed because an immigrant has stolen their job, but rather, they are unemployed because of the spread of at-will employment and the weakening of unions that would have looked out for the worker.
In the Turkey of today, public resources are not appropriated for the benefit of the people of Turkey. Neither are they used for the benefit of immigrants. Instead, the riches of our country are made available for the free plunder of a group of capitalists merged with the AKP regime.
While they do not experience it in the same manner, poverty, unemployment, precarity, unequal access to health and education are common problems for all workers. The will to live in unity is more needed than ever, the struggle for the free and equal life, a prosperous society is more urgent then ever. So as to not let this struggle lose momentum, The Workers’ Party of Turkey will work to prevent fractures among workers and win a socialist republic for all those who inhabit this country.
Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP)
