In her column, Gülseren Onanç, the Founding Chair of the SES Equality and Solidarity Association, argues that even though demanding “peace” is perceived as an impossible and romantic demand in today’s confrontational environment, it is the only way to solve the complex problems of the World.
In her weekly article Gülseren Onanç states that even though demanding “peace” is perceived as an impossible and romantic demand in today’s confrontational environment, it is the only way to solve the complex problems of the World.
The Russia-Ukraine War, which started with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has been going on for 78 days. According to the United Nations Human Rights Unit, as of 20 April 2022, 2,224 civilians were killed, and 2,897 were injured. The UN Migration Service reports that the number of migrants leaving the country after the Ukraine war has exceeded 6 million. This war will have long-term impacts on world peace. Finland and Sweden’s applications for NATO membership indicate the rapid return to the bipolar order.
According to the International Crisis Group, whose mission is to guide peace policies and prevent war, the ten conflicts that should be watched in the World are : Ukraine, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, the America and China conflict, Iran versus America and Israel conflict, Yemen, Israel-Palestine conflict, Haiti, Myanmar, Jihadist armed organizations like ISIS in Africa.
Refugee crisis caused by war and conflict
One of the consequences of wars is the refugee and asylum crisis. According to the UN Refugee Organization UNHCR figures, 82.4 million people have been forcibly displaced around the World. Forty-eight million of them were forced to migrate in their own countries. The countries of origin of the 26.4 million international refugees under the auspices of the UN Refugee Agency are Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Sudan and Myanmar.
Turkey has received the World’s largest refugee population
Turkey is host to the World’s largest refugee population in the World. Colombia, Pakistan, Uganda and Germany are other countries receiving the most refugees. Half of those who are fleeing are under the age of 18. There are close to 4 million refugees under UNHCR’s supervision in Turkey, of which 3.6 million are registered Syrians.
I mention all this information about the “refugee crisis” that has been rising in Turkey in the recent days. Because, in the process that started with the first mass migration from Syria to Turkey in 2011 and with the recent wave of migration from Afghanistan to Turkey, the lack of a proper migration policy contributed to an increase in the anti-immigrant sentiment in the society. President Erdogan’s statement “We will voluntarily send 1 million Syrians back”, the anti-refugee rhetoric initiated by far-right politician Ümit Özdağ, and the social media posts led to the increasingly visible slogan; “I don’t want foreigners in my country.”
The ancient culture of Anatolia advises us to live with different cultures and identities
Although Turkey has lifted a large refugee burden in the last ten years, the anti-refugee discourse has skyrocketed more recently. When we look at some of the developments in Turkey’s past, it can be seen that this discouse was not dominant as we shared our neighbourhood, our jobs, and our vaccine with the aggrieved immigrants. Despite Europe’s hypocritical attitude towards the refugee crisis, we hosted refugees. After all, we are the people of Anatolia, kneaded with the ancient culture of thousands of years of different identities living side by side. We should be proud of these features and demand a healthy immigration policy from the government as soon as possible.
Syrian women are worried
Syrian women are going through hard times due to the anti-refugee opposition that has been ignited recently. While Ayşe, a domestic worker, tells that she cannot even take her children out and is threatened, Esma says, “I even stopped reading Arabic books in public transport.”
Galatarasay University Lecturer and Founding President of the Migration Research Association (GAR) Assoc. Dr. Didem Danış says that although the conditions in Turkey are difficult for Syrians, a significant part of them do not want to return. Didem Danış says, “Turkey’s national legislation and the international law it has signed say that repatriation can only be done voluntarily. The words “We will send the Syrians back” have no real meaning. These are the rhetoric about the election with political motives.”
Politics needs to get to the core of the problem and produce an answer to the real problem. Look at the countries where the refugees are coming from: Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Sudan and Myanmar. All of these countries are ruled by authoritarian regimes, war and conflict continue within these countries.
The only solution to the refugee problem is peace
There is only one solution to the refugee problem: to establish peace within and between countries. Although demanding “peace” is perceived as an impossible romantic demand in today’s confrontational environment, we need to relentlessly voice the demand for peace. We are aware of the importance of international voices in raising this demand. As SES Equality and Solidarity Association, we advocate the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, that focuses on the effects of armed conflicts on women and girls, the role of women in ensuring peace, and the priority of gender dimensions in peace and conflict resolution processes. We are excited to start a new project in this direction.
We will raise the women’s voice for peace
As the SES Equality, Justice, Women Platform, we will develop content that will draw attention to the “Women, Peace and Security” agenda. We aim to address the issue from the perspective of women and victims and to raise the voice of peace. We aim to play a transformative role with a peaceful language against the language of the masculine media, which sometimes amounts to racism.
With our belief that women will raise the voice of peace, we have named the content we publish in this context “Women’s VOICE for Peace”.
We bow respectfully before the struggle of Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian correspondent of the Al-Jazeera television channel, who lost her life as a result of a fire opened by Israeli soldiers.
In Turkey, the Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the prison sentence given to the Republican People’s Party Istanbul Provincial Chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu for her Twitter posts. We read the decision of the judiciary against Kaftancıoğlu as an intimidation against the freedom of people to express their thoughts and opinions freely, the constitutional rights of the Turkish people, the presence of women in politics and democratic politics. We stand by Canan Kaftancıoğlu, who raised the voice of courage by saying, “Never lose hope”.