Refugee means because of the events taking place in European countries; A foreigner who is outside the country of his/her nationality because of a well-founded fear of being persecuted because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion and who is unable or unwilling to benefit from the protection of this country due to such fear, or outside the country of residence where he/she previously lived as a result of such events. It refers to the status granted after the status determination procedures to a stateless person who is found, unable to return there, or does not want to return due to the fear in question.
Syrian civil war has begun, in the first days of the crisis, which started with the air strikes of the Syrian regime on February 27, Turkey changed its policy towards Syrian refugees and announced that it would no longer prevent these refugees from crossing to Europe. Turkey, which is under the pressure of a new wave of refugees from Idlib, does not want Europe to see this situation as only Turkey’s problem and forces European countries to focus on the situation of Syrian refugees by keeping the border gates open.
While the number of people forcibly displaced due to conflict, violence and persecution reached record levels globally; Turkey continued to be the country hosting the largest number of refugees in the world. Turkey hosts approximately 3.6 million registered Syrian refugees, as well as some 320,000 other nationalities of UNHCR interest.
After the Russia-Ukraine war started, the United Nations announced that the number of Ukrainians who had to leave their country due to the invasion of Russia exceeded 1.7 million. UN officials say that number could reach four million. According to the UN Refugee Agency, Europe experienced the fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II.
Low- and middle-income countries host 83 percent of the total refugees, while the least developed countries host 27 percent. The rich countries took less of the burden.
The biggest reason why the worst-off countries host so many immigrants is because they are neighbors to conflict areas. Because 72 percent of those who fled their country stayed in neighboring countries.
The Ukraine crisis resulted in a much larger number of refugees accumulating in Europe in a much shorter time. Despite this, it is stated that the EU acts with an exemplary attitude compared to the Syrian crisis, and lists the reasons as follows:
First, Ukraine was a directly neighboring country. Secondly, the EU was directly a party to this crisis, it had a political stake. Third, public acceptance of Ukrainian refugees is much higher. We can say that the public sees them culturally closer. Like the visa-free transit of Syrians to Turkey, Ukrainians were already able to enter the EU visa-free.
In my opinion, in order to solve the refugee problem, the source of the problem should be improved. For example, in order to solve the Syrian refugee problem, Syria needs to be rebuilt, money should flow from the countries holding refugees and necessary actions should be taken.