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Erik Moberg ©:

11. THE ASYLUM SEEKERS FROM TURKEY, RUSSIA AND GEORGIA

And so, finally, we have come to the asylum seekers from Turkey, Russia and Georgia. Here it may at first be noted that the number of asylum seekers from Turkey and Russia are, as percentages of these countries’ total populations, very small (see the former Table 2)–0.1 and 0.2 respectively. Because of this it could be quite reasonable to leave these two countries without any further discussion, in particular since both are, and increasingly become, quite repressive and therefore likely to stimulate at least some emigration. And for Russia, while also noting that its curve in the diagram is quite irregular, I will do so, that is leaving it without any further comment. Turkey’s curve, however, with its considerable increases in 2016 and -17, seems to indicate some more particular reason for emigration. And so it may be. The conflicts between the main population and the Kurds became in fact much more violent in 2015, and this may have triggered the increased emigration.

Diagram 5 (repeated): Asylum seekers in the EU/EFTA from Turkey, Russia and Georgia

Going then to Georgia whose asylum seekers constitute 2.5 percent of the total population a more detailed discussion may be in order. Even here, however, in the same way as for Russia, the curve is quite irregular and it is therefore difficult to identify any particular reason. Rather it seems necessary to look for some more general explanation and one such could be the growing conflict between older traditionalists and a younger, to a large extent Westernized, generation. So a possibility is that the asylum seekers to a large extent are recruited from this younger generation.

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