ISTANBUL

George Papandreou, president of the Socialist International and former Greek prime minister, has told an Istanbul audience that Europe’s refugee crisis will continue into the future.

“We will be seeing more and more refugee problems around the world and Europe is a destination and will be a destination [for refugees] whether you want that or not,” Papandreou told a conference at Istanbul’s Bogazici University on Monday.

“They will find ways no matter how many fences or walls we build (…),” said the 63-year-old politician.

“But it will not be only Syrians. As we know we have many from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Africa,” he said, adding that the next possible refugee flow could come from war-torn Yemen.

“So, we have to sit down and see how to move and really deal with this,” said Papandreou, who is the son and grandson of former Greek prime ministers. 

On Nov. 24, the EU and Turkey agreed on a refugee action plan under which Turkey promised to stem the flow of refugees coming into Europe in exchange for visa freedom and speeding-up EU membership talks.

Papandreou welcomed the agreement as “a very important step”.

Turkey currently hosts 2.3 million Syrian refugees. More than 750,000 refugees have crossed into the EU from Turkey so far this year.

Addressing the Cyprus issue, which has long-divided Turkish and Greek governments, Papandreou said that a solution in the Mediterranean island “would be an example” to divided societies.

“We can show that there are other ways which are much better for societies,” he said, anticipating a possible short-term solution to the Cyprus question.

The Mediterranean island has been divided since Turkey’s 1974 military intervention.

While the Greek Cypriot government, an EU member since 2004, is recognized internationally, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus– in the island’s northern third – is only recognized by Ankara.

TRNC President Mustafa Akinci said earlier this month that Cyprus’ decades-old unsolved ethnic conflict is close to a solution “within months”.