A blessed time for refugees in Kansas City, but a shameful time for Europe

After four years of devastating civil war in Syria, the first refugee family from that country has arrived in Kansas City. The father, Ahmad al-Abboud, said this week, “I am very blessed to be here.” He is fortunate. He and his family are safe now.

But on the other side of the world, thousands of refugees confront a new struggle.

Last week, about 350 people were forcibly sent back from the Greek islands to Turkey.

Turkey and the European Union (EU) have agreed that, as of March 20, all refugees who reach the islands illegally will be returned to Turkey.

That country — which is not an EU member — will take all of those refugees. In return, the EU will take an equal number of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey.

The agreement is supposed to send this message to smugglers: Don’t try it. Don’t even bother.

And yet almost 2,000 refugees are still arriving on Greek shores every day.

One of the most popular destinations is the island of Lesbos, which is only a few miles from the Turkish coast.

Refugees are running away from war, poverty and misery. They are trying to escape from coast guards and to reach Greek shores by small plastic boats every day. It’s a tragic situation, with people’s lives at stake.

But it is also a business for smugglers. The bad guys don’t care about lives, law or order. The only thing they care about is money.

Trials involving the smugglers are going on in Turkey. But they can wriggle out of trouble with mild punishments. Two Syrian smugglers were sentenced in March to four years and two months in prison over the death of Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi and four other people. The image of Aylan’s body lying face down on a Turkish shore last fall focused world attention on the refugee crisis and became a symbol of their ordeal.

Turkey, which has a population of 75 million, hosts more than 2.7 million Syrian refugees. About 270,000 are in camps, while the rest are in Istanbul and other cities and towns. The number has grown from only 14,000 refugees just four years ago.

But many refugees don’t want to live in Turkey. Their main goal is to reach Germany. In their eyes, that nation is the land of wealth and peace. That’s why they left Syria or other war-torn countries, hitting the road for Europe.

Unfortunately, most European leaders show their good faces on the immigration issue, but in practice they don’t want so many refugees in their countries.

And the only solution they have is to stop them on the border of Europe.

That’s why the agreement between Turkey and the EU is so important to understand.

Last year, the EU promised to give Turkey 3 billion euros for feeding and housing refugees in that country. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced the country had already spent far more than that to help people fleeing the war in Syria.

Finally, in March, the EU agreed to Turkey’s demand to increase the assistance to 6 billion euros by the end of 2018 to deal with Syrian refugees in Turkey.

Here is how that agreement is expected to help stop too many refugees from getting to EU countries:

Turkey and Greece have agreed to organize a swap. When refugees illegally reach the Greek islands, they will be sent to Turkey, regardless of their nationality.

If the refugee who was sent back to Turkey is a Syrian, he or she will stay in Turkey. Then, Germany will take its “selective Syrian refugees” directly from Turkey. Syrian refugees have priority to take asylum in the EU because of the war in their country. And most are also educated and qualified. That might be the another reason why Europeans favor Syrian refugees.

However, if the refugee is from Afghanistan, Iraq or any other country, there will be another problem. Because it is not clear yet whether Turkey will seek to deport those refugees to their home countries. Even though continued violence in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libyan and Eritrea is creating more refugees, they are considered “economic migrants.” And most are not as educated as many Syrians.

Human rights advocates have described the deal between Turkey and the EU as a “shameful moment” for Europe.

The crucial question is, what is the logic of this agreement?

Why is the EU giving special consideration to Syrian refugees as part of a pact that sends all refugees from Greece to Turkey? Is it to stop smuggling? Or is it to choose only the kinds of refugees Europe wants?

If that’s the case, the deal looks an awful lot like “legal smuggling.”

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 4:54 PM with the headline "A blessed time for refugees in Kansas City, but a shameful time for Europe."