Cost of the vendetta

On a sunny Sunday afternoon, if you happen to walk on the shores of Bebek and Rumelihisar? in Istanbul, three of the four young people that you bump into will most likely be speaking Arabic as their native language. And they will not be from Qatar or Kuwait. They are the wealthy Syrians who are in exile in Istanbul. Unlike their poor and very uneducated compatriots that are suffering deeply in the other parts of Istanbul, these well-to-do young Syrians give you the feeling that they have no worries about their land being occupied by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or being destroyed by the Bashar al-Assad regime. It is also a financial miracle that they live in Istanbul without working at all.

When the first signs of the Syrian crisis emerged three years ago, then-Gaziantep Mayor Dr. As?m Güzelbey called Ahmet Davuto?lu, the former foreign minister, to warn about the possible costs of the war.

?Unfortunately, nobody in the ministry seemed to care,? Güzelbey told me. Now after thousands of people have died, the cost is too much to bear for any neighboring country.

The Republican People?s Party?s (CHP) latest economic report on the Syrian crisis shows a dark future for the nation. According to unofficial figures, about 2 million Syrians are living inside Turkish borders and that is more than the population of 70 of Turkey?s cities. About half a million Syrian guests living in Turkey are of school age, but only about 175,000 of them are able to get a proper education. Turkey?s cities are not equipped to host such a big crowd. The CHP warns of a ?lost generation of Syrians? who will not find peace in Turkey either. 

There is an even bigger price tag for the Turkish economy. According to the opposition party?s economic...