Vol.10, No.1 | [Article] East Mediterranean Refugees

The current dilemma regarding the hundreds of thousands of migrants /refugees fleeing across the Mediterranean is not new. Wars and civil wars are not new phenomena in the Mediterranean, and neither are the human miseries of displacement that result afterwards. This article focuses on the role of the League of Nations and international treaties in solving the refugee crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean after the Great War. This paper will focus on a comparison of the Turkish-Greek population exchange with the post-2011 refugee crisis. The current crisis showed how security priorities, nationalist pride, and religious fanaticism hinder the crucial decisions that would save the lives and futures of millions of people. When the politicians took decisions almost a century ago, they were based on almost the same foundations that are standing in the way of achieving a just and inclusive solution to the current refugee crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean.


Keyword : Greek-Turkish relations, Refugees, Lausanne Treaty, The League of Nations, EU-Turkish deal