Syrian Refugee Crisis: Regional and Human Security Implications

Nação e Defesa, 2018

This article analyze the war in Syria in geopolitical terms and as a humanitarian catastrophe. Its significance goes beyond merely its regional dimension. There are many different causes of the Syrian conflict, including its colonial past, the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, the sectarian polarisation and radicalization of Syria and Iraq and the West’s lukewarm response to the “Arab Spring”. Finding a solution to the conflict in Syria is not an easy task, due to the involvement of various global and regional powers in a proxy war, such as the United States, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia or Turkey, and due to the extraordinary brutality of the Syrian regime. The Syrian war has triggered the worst humanitarian disaster since the Second World War. The refugee crisis leads to the destabilization of the Middle East and affects Europe as the desired destination.

The Syrian crisis, which started in 2011 as an anti-government protest against President Bashar-al-Assad, transformed into a civil war in the first quarter of 2012. Since then, the war continued unabated resulting as one of the worst humanitarian crises after the Second World War by killing more than 470,000 people and displacing half of the Syria's total population either internally or externally. It has also dragged regional and global powers to wage proxy war in its territory and caused spill-over effects within and beyond the region. In this context, this paper is an attempt to analyse the Syrian crisis, geopolitics behind the crisis and its implications. In doing so, the paper identifies different factors, such as authoritarian nature of President Bashar-al-Assad's government, sectarian division and deteriorated socioeconomic condition within Syria, competing gas export interest from regional as well as global powers, the intervention of foreign powers as major reasons for deepening the crisis and prolonging this war. The ruling Ba'ath Party of Syria headed by President Assad, a coalition of Syrian opposition forces and their military entity, regional and global forces, namely Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Qatar, the United States, Russia, Lebanon's Shiite militia group Hezbollah and different Sunni armed extremist groups like Al-Nusra Front and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are the main actors of this war. The paper argues that apart from its devastating impact on Syria's socio-political and economic condition, the crisis has shaken the entire Middle East in particular and made a corrosive effect on the West's relations with both Russia and China as a whole. It has also caused the biggest wave of disorderly migration since the Second World War and facilitated the emergence of armed extremist organisations like ISIS and Al Nusra Front, which are posing serious threats to national security of Syria and beyond.

Turkey has followed an open-door policy towards the Syrian refugees since the start of the conflict in Syria in 2011. With the intensification of violence, Syria has now replaced Afghanistan as the state that generates the most refugees in the world. Currently, Turkey hosts more than 2.7 million refugees. In this paper, an analysis of Turkey's response to the refugee crisis is presented, by shedding light on the living and working conditions of Syrian refugees. The second part of the article looks at Turkey's border policy and its humanitarian policies in response to this crisis.

Yaz Yayınları, 2024

The Syria crisis emerged in 2011 as a result of protests that began during the Arab Spring, which were met with harsh interventions by the Bashar al-Assad regime, eventually turning into a civil war. This process has deeply affected Syria’s internal dynamics. It has also influenced the policies of regional and global actors. Due to its long land border with Syria and historical ties, Türkiye has been directly impacted by the crisis from the outset, playing an active role in both humanitarian and security dimensions. The Syria crisis evolved from being an internal matter to a conflict that shook regional balances. Therefore, understanding the dynamics and impacts of the crisis is crucial for enhancing the effectiveness of both humanitarian aid efforts and international peace and security policies.

2014

Syrian Crisis, 2020

The article studies main developments, implications and results of the 10 year Syrian crisis. The author pays special attention to the historical preconditions that caused those events in Syria, focusing on actual political, social, economic, ethnic, ideological, regional, and international dimensions of the Syrian crisis based on historical background. The author tries to make some forecasts about further development of the current situation in Syria in view of abilities to peacefully resolve the conflict by political instruments rather than military options. The publication tends to study new tendencies in the Syrian crisis development. The author argues that today the Syrian conflict is developing in a different paradigm that can be tentatively designated as the “post-terrorist” stage in the Syrian uprising. Main attention is paid to Russia’s politics in Syria and its ability to rebuild the main institutions of the Syrian state. Political steps and tendencies of major regional and international players in the Syrian crisis are analysed. In this regard the author supposes and demonstrates in this article that much depends on how Russia, Turkey, Iran, the United States and Israel change the previous agreements on the security system in Syria. The author believes that despite all the complexity of this crisis, peace in Syria is quite possible. A lot depends on political will and the readiness for mutual compromises between key internal and external actors in the Syrian crisis.

The ongoing Civil War in Syria is one of the most devastating war in the recent history of mankind. It was started in early 2011 with a popular uprising for restoration of democracy in Syria; and it is dragging on till today without an end insight. The war has brought untold and a unimageble tragedies to men, women, children and aged people. Hundreds and hundreds of people were mowed down for reason not known to them and for no fault of their own. Even world's most dreaded weapons, the chemical weapons, banned by the Geneva Convention were used for killing innocent men, women and children. The war has now thoroughly devastated the country as a result of which millions and millions of people flee to other places in other part of the world. Casualty had been mounting each passing day, there were rampant human right violations and manmade humanitarian crisis is dominating the entire length and breadth of the country. There was no question of winners and losers; for everyone is the war is the loser.