In April 2015, five ships sailed from Libya to Europe. They never reached shore, and their journey ended up in the death of 1200 migrants. Whether fleeing the wars waged on them by religious fanatics, or the wars waged on them by the neoliberal system, the death of the migrants have left the world in shock. The international community was soon mobilized with fingers of condemnation pointing everywhere: the liberals accused the smugglers, the radicals condemned the politicians, and the politicians, in their turn, commemorated the dead and made nice speeches about freedom of movement, repeating all the time that Europe is open for everyone.

How to account for the death of the migrants in the Mediterranean? What are the political and the social conditions responsible for the situation? And in what way is the European Union implicated in the situation?

Come and join us for a discussion on these questions and more with Orçun Ulusoy

Orçun Ulusoy studied law at Dokuz Eylul University in Izmir, Turkey. As a lawyer he worked on human rights related cases with a focus on LGBT rights, asylum and migration. He was a founding member of the Association for Solidarity with Refugees in Izmir and of ‘Kayiki’, a network of Turkish and Greek human rights activists, researchers and lawyers working on asylum and migration issues. Before joining the VU, he was working as a contracted lawyer for the UNHCR in Turkey.