The DEM Party (Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party) Co-Spokespersons for the Commission on Migrants and Refugees, Özgül Saki and Murad Mıhçı, issued a statement on the occasion of June 20, World Refugee Day, calling for an end to wars.

The Commission Co-Spokespersons stated that millions of people have been displaced from their homes and countries due to new wars, endless oppression, and inequalities.

“Over 5 million migrants in Turkey are largely trapped in an insecure, stateless, exclusionary, and discriminatory system,” said the DEM Party, remarking that migrant women are left even more vulnerable to gender-based, racial, and male violence, as well as multiple forms of discrimination.

The statement noted that LGBTIQ+ migrants face discrimination in all its forms, while migrant children are denied access to education and become targets of child labor and abuse.

In addition to all the structural problems in Turkey, the deepening crises in the Middle East are a harbinger of new and large-scale migration movements, the DEM Party warned and made the following recommendations:

• Migrants are not “temporary guests” but social subjects with equal rights.

• The Readmission Agreement should be abolished, the geographical reservation in the Geneva Convention should be lifted, and Europe's negotiations over migrants should come to an end.

• All migrants should be granted access to legal status and fundamental rights, and the exploitation of migrant labor should be ended.

• Repatriation centers should be closed, arbitrary detention codes should be abolished, and deportation practices should be ended.

• Preparations for new waves of migration should be based on human rights and social peace.

The DEM Party called on everyone to stand in solidarity with migrants and to fight together for an equal and free life in a world without borders, class, or exploitation.