Tejo Policy Conference

Tejo Policy Conference
On the Way to the World Humanitarian Summit
n, Portugal
16, Lisbo
07 March 20
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Table of contents
IPLI FOREWORD.......................................................... 3
CLIPIS FOREWORD..................................................... 4
CONFERENCE PANEL ONE......................................... 5
CONFERENCE PANEL TWO........................................ 8
PARTNERS AND SPECIAL THANKS........................ 11
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This latest Tejo Policy Conference explored the strategic relationship between Turkey and the EU regarding cooperation on the issue of refugees and
migration management. The IPLI Foundation was pleased to co-organize
this initiative with its Portuguese partner, Lusíada Center for Research in
International Politics and Security (CLIPIS) at Universidade Lusíada in
Lisbon.
To date, Turkey’s efforts to provide humanitarian relief to Syrian refugees has
been enormous. As of the date of this conference, Turkey is hosting at least
2.7 million Syrian refugees on its soil and has spent upwards of $10 billion
USD on their care. To date, EU countries relief efforts have been miniscule in
comparison. As many experts have stated, the longer that the Syria crisis
continues, the more its negative effects will ripple out to impact surrounding
countries, potentially provoking even greater instability in the region and
possibly beyond. As the international community struggles to coordinate
public polices to effectively deal with the flows of refugees created by the
ongoing Syria conflict, Turkey and the EU countries find themselves in a
situation where more effective international cooperation between them is
urgently needed.
While this Tejo policy conference took place in Lisbon, simultaneously in
Brussels, leaders from EU states and governments met with Turkish policy
makers to examine ways in which their refugee and migration policies could
better be coordinated to address the current crisis.
This Tejo policy conference was successful in contributing to the ongoing
international policy debates surrounding the issue of the Syrian refugees and
migration management. The IPLI Foundation was privileged to cooperate
with CLIPIS on this initiative and IPLI looks forward to continued cooperation
in the future.
Respectfully,
Timothy Reno
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IPLI Foundation Director
The Lusíada Center for Research in International Politics and Security (CLIPIS)
is a research unit of the Universidade Lusíada that aims to produce and
disseminate scientific research in the areas of International Relations and
Security Studies through the organization of debates, international
conferences and multidisciplinary seminars. Twice per year CLIPIS produces
its scientific journal Revista Lusíada de Política Internacional e Segurança.
In addition to its own projects, CLIPIS carries out other research projects in
cooperation with other Portuguese and foreign universities, research centers
and think tanks. Notably with the IPLI (International Policy and Leadership
Institute), the IDN (National Defense Institute) and the ISCPSI (Higher Institute
of Police Sciences and Internal Security).
CLIPIS is composed of two research groups with the following objectives: one
dedicated to the study of Portuguese foreign policy; and the other dedicated to
the wider study of the multi-dimensional aspects of global international
relations. Currently CLIPIS is composed of eleven doctoral researchers and is
enlarging its membership to include foreign researchers in the subsequent
phases of its institutional development.
This latest collaborative initiative with the IPLI Foundation was a great
academic success. CLIPIS looks forward to collaborating with the IPLI
Foundation in the near future.
Prof. Doutor José Francisco Lynce Zagalo Pavia
Coordinator of CLIPIS and Assistant Professor of International Relations at
Lusíada Universities of Lisbon and Porto
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Moderator: H.E. Antonio Martins da Cruz
(Ambassador and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal)
Mehmet Köse
(Deputy Chairman of Department for
Turks Abroad and Related Communities)
The refugee flows into Turkey started in 2011
at the outbreak of the Syria crisis. Turkey’s
policy was to keep an open door policy for
these refugees since the beginning of the
conflict. At present, 2.7 million Syrian
refugees are registered in Turkey and
260,000 of them are living in camps.
More than half of the Syrian refugees in Turkey are below 18 years of age.
This generation is at serious risk of becoming a “lost generation”. During a
humanitarian crisis, education might not seem to be an urgent necessity.
However, as a long term policy, in order to contribute to Syria’s post conflict
reconstruction, Turkey recognizes that enabling access to education for
Syrian youth is a vital public policy concern.
Turkey has been very active in attempting to build infrastructure and
programs to assist Syrian youth to gain access to educational opportunities.
The “Türkiye Scholarships” programs coordinated by the Presidency for Turks
Abroad and Related Communities (YTB) and the Turkish Ministry of Education
are mechanisms being employed to address the issue of access to education.
The world must focus on investing in Syrians’ education both inside and
outside of Syria. Failing to do so will create negative impacts not only for
Syria but for the surrounding region as well.
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Rui Marques
(President of IPAV and founder of
Plataforma de Apoio aos Refugiados)
It is very evident that this Syrian crisis is a critical
strategic issue for the EU. Turkey is doing an
extraordinary job of providing support for Syrian
refugees. Turkey’s efforts serve as a prime
example of what a country can do to help. It is
critical for the EU to develop and adopt a united
policy towards the Syrian refugees which is firmly
anchored in common humanitarian values.
This policy is needed to guide the EU forward so that it can avoid falling prey
to pitfalls along the way which could damage its efforts to provide
humanitarian assistance.
In Portugal’s case, we must approach the issue of Syrian refugees with great
humility, because to date our country has not contributed very much towards
their humanitarian relief. Nonetheless, over the past few months,
Portuguese civil society has become increasingly active in rallying support
among citizens to help more. Portugal has an enormous advantage given
that the issue of lending support to Syrian refugees is mostly not a divisive
issue in our country, as it conversely is in many other EU countries. It is
unfortunately much easier to turn to populism and xenophobia than it is to
attempt to genuinely find solutions to assist in this humanitarian crisis. To
date, the EU unfortunately began to deal with the Syrian humanitarian crisis
too late and also poorly. If the EU wants to remain loyal to its foundational
principles, then it needs to work in solidarity with Turkey to find solutions to
support Syrian refugees.
This issue of solidarity is not just something that would be nice to have, no.
It is a necessity to ensure the continued stable existence of the EU. The EU
cannot afford to ignore this humanitarian disaster any longer. The spillover
effects are already having an increasing impact on the EU and this will likely
continue. The EU cannot point fingers at others and moralize when it has
little moral standing on this issue. We are living in trying times, and it is
vitally important that we meet the challenges with strength, united purpose
and dignity. We are interdependent and the security and stability of all of us
depends on the collective action of all of us. Our vision must be founded in
solid principles and values.
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Dr. Şaban Kardaş
(Director of Center for Middle Eastern
Strategic Studies)
We need to better understand the root
problems of the Syria crisis in order to truly
find solutions. The current refugee crisis is
unfortunately only a byproduct of a deeper
issue. And that issue is the failure of the
global community to effectively manage
international crises.
The international community at large and EU countries in particular have been
inefficient in developing an effective response capacity. As a result of this
failure we are dealing with the increasing repercussions of the Syria crisis.
The recent attacks in Paris and in Brussels have underscored how the Syrian
crisis spillover increasingly affects the surrounding region. Since 2011,
Turkey has been arguing that a political transition was necessary in Syria to
end the conflict. The international community should have done more to
assist in this political transition. The failure to implement a political transition
framework has unfortunately deteriorated the situation inside of Syria. The
conflict has evolved into a type of civil war and Syria has become a major
battleground. As a specific proposal, the Turkish government has long
proposed a “safe zone” to be established in northern Syria. This proposal
could still be viable. The international community could assist to make this
possible. The Turkish government and Turkish NGOs have spent close to $10
billion USD so far on refugees. To date, international donors have provided
approximately $461 million USD to assist Turkey in its support these
refugees. When we look at these numbers, it can be better understood why
Turkey does not consider the EU’s Facility for Refugees in Turkey, which called
for €3 billion to be given to Turkey, to be enough. While Turkey is thankful for
this support, greater financial support is still needed.
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Moderator: Dr. Mesut Özcan
(Director of the Diplomacy Academy at the
Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
When we talk about the Syria crisis there
are many dimensions. If we look at the
Dr. Cemalettin Kani Torun
last 5 years, the main failure of the
(Member of Turkish Parliament)
international community to coalesce
around an effective strategy on Syria has been due to two main factors: the
inconsistent policy of the U.S. and the unfortunate apathy of the EU.
In August 2011, U.S. President Obama said that Bashar Al-Assad should step
aside and then one year later, Obama gave his famous “red line speech”. In
2013, Assad used chemical weapons and Obama did nothing. In August
2014, the U.S. stated that Assad could stay in power until a transition
government was put in place. By failing to act decisively, the U.S. created a
power vacuum that Russia was able to fill. With regard to the EU, it only
started to seriously consider the refugees issue during summer 2015, when
waves of refugees began coming to the EU’s borders. ISIL is a product of the
Syria conflict. If early on there had been a serious effort to solve the Syria
crisis, then ISIL would not exist as it does today. In April 2015 there were 1.5
million Syrian refugees in Turkey. Fast forward to today and we now have
2.7 million. We see that the situation is getting worse. This situation is not
sustainable for Turkey.
What can be done in this context? First we need a political solution, then we
need to deal with burden sharing of refugees on an international level.
Turkey and the EU need to work together to find sensible ways to solve the
refugee crisis. The refugee situation is just the end product of a political
impasse. This current Syria crisis has the potential, if left unchecked, to
continue to increasingly destabilize other countries in the region.
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Dr. Luís Saraiva
(Professor at Universidade Lusíada)
In Syria, humanity is witnessing a disaster of
proportions not seen since World War II. The
international community has been unable to
sufficiently unite in the common goal of bringing
an end to this conflict. The EU and Turkey can
engage in a positive collaborative partnership to
find solutions to this crisis.
As a potential catalyst for collaboration, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon
has proposed that the World Humanitarian Summit scheduled to take place
soon in Istanbul could serve as a rallying call to unite the international
community to push to resolve this crisis.
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has proposed that we must act upon our
individual and shared responsibilities, an “Agenda for humanity” in which
specifically, 5 core responsibilities have to be assumed by all actors: global
leadership, support for the norms which safeguard humanity, leaving no one
behind, the need to change people’s lives and the importance of investing in
humanity. If the international community does not truly commit to finding a
solution to the Syria crisis, then the risk of this crisis expanding throughout
the region and even beyond is a possibility.
All nations have an obligation to control the flux
of migrants and refugees into their territories.
However, due to the Schengen Area, the EU has
a much more complicated context to deal with
than any individual EU member state. The
simple dilemma of the matter is that once they
are inside of Schengen, migrants and refugees
Dr. António Costa Neves
can travel anywhere inside of the EU. Over the
(Member of Portuguese Parliament)
years this refugee issue has become more
complex. We are faced with a situation where all EU member states must
come to a common accord on refugee and migrant policies. This is incredibly
difficult to achieve and very controversial for EU member states, especially
given the fact that we are dealing with border controls, a fundamental issue of
national sovereignty.
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Partners:
The Lusíada Center of Research in International Politics and Security (CLIPIS) it is a
research organic unit of the Universidade Lusíada that aims scientific research and
dissemination in the areas of International Relations and Security Studies. CLIPIS
headquarters are located in Lisbon, Portugal. For more information please visit:
www.lis.ulusiada.pt/pt-pt/investigação/clipis/clipis/apresentação.aspx
The IPLI Foundation is a philanthropic organization dedicated to the mission of supporting
academic and applied research initiatives aimed at analyzing ongoing development and
multi-dimensional human security public policy challenges in Europe, the Mediterranean
region and Africa. For more information please visit: www.ipli.eu
Special Thanks:
Universidade Lusíada Lisboa
Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies (ORSAM)
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Diplomasi Akademisi