Page 141 - A Helping Hand for Refugees

regard as more prosperous and safer. Most of the time, such migration
tends to take place within the affected country, but factors such as the
Arab Spring and the global economic crisis have led such migrations
to involve crossing borders more and more.

Spain, Malta and Italy are exposed to migrants from North Africa;
Greece over the Aegean Sea and Bulgaria and Germany over the
Balkans. Turkey on the other hand has received record numbers of
migrants from Syria and Iraq.

Although Turkey is a less developed country than Spain, Italy, or
Germany, it does not reject refugees, but instead offers them many
greater opportunities. Angelina Jolie, the U.N. goodwill ambassador

who recently visited refugee camps in Turkey, expressed her approval
with the words, "I am really grateful for the open-door policy of Turkey in
allowing these people to enter and the assurances that there will be no forced
returns." Pope Francis also praised Turkey's attitude during his visit
13
to the country at the end of November and called on the international
community to give Turkey assistance.

It is almost impossible to see a similar picture in other countries.
Italy has declared that she will no longer provide rescue operations for
boats carrying migrants in the open seas, while Greece plans to hinder
migrants with walls and obstacles along its border with Turkey. Ger-
many, on the other hand, has amended its law on refugees and con-

ditions of admission in order to prevent migrants coming from the
Balkans; a similar amendment has been made to the Swiss asylum law.
The Swiss law has been tightened up and received 78.5% popular
approval.

Reducing applications and the acceptance process of asylum are
not the only problems experienced regarding refugees. The problems
facing refugees who encounter tremendous difficulties in crossing seas
and borders do not end once they reach a European country. Many
European countries are indeed struggling to cope with a wave of migra-

Adnan Oktar (Harun Yahya) 139