Syria's refugee crisis shows world lack of sufficient solidarity: expert

An ex-UN refugee official said recently that "Syrian crisis has shown that there is not sufficient international solidarity. World should not lay burden on neighbors of the country in crisis."

Metin Corabatir, vice Chairman of Asylum and Migration Research Center, believes that the upcoming first World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul can be a venue to discuss bringing new norms, code of conducts to put global humanitarian system in order.

By the end of this year, some 4.7 million Syrian refugees are expected to be registered in the Middle East, while he said that the surge in refugee populations should be a wake-up call for the world community to better cooperate to host nations such as Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

According to the 2016 Syria Humanitarian Response Plan by the UN, there are 13.5 million people in need, of whom 6 million are children and 6.5 million are internally displaced persons.

"Syrian crisis has shown that there is not sufficient international solidarity. World should not lay burden on neighbors of the country in crisis," he said.

Corabatir also noted that the safety and security of humanitarian aid workers are deteriorating, saying that in recent years, aid workers are being kidnapped and killed.

For Turkey, hosting more than 3 million refugees has not been an easy task. "Not only an economic burden, but also political and cultural burden," said Corabatir, noting that the country is divided on whether it should embrace the Syrian refugees.

The country provides free health services and opens Arabic education centers, yet education and legal status are still heavy to difficult to deal with for the Turkish government. Non-European refugees like Iraqis and Syrians are eligible only for temporary asylum-seeker status in Turkey.

Turkish government was right in implementing an open door policy for Syrians, however, it did not implement the necessary policies to integrate those refugees into Turkish society, Corabatir said, adding that Turkey have provided camps for Syrian and Iraqi refugees, but did not lay down necessary legal infrastructure for them. Endit