Turkey hosts the largest refugee population in the world—around four million people, the vast majority Syrians.

Under President Erdogan, refugees have shifted from a humanitarian challenge to a powerful foreign-policy instrument. Millions of displaced people have effectively become leverage against European Union, a textbook case of geopolitics: turning an internal weakness into external pressure.

This dynamic creates a double effect. Turkey secures massive European funding, while simultaneously holding a direct threat over Europe’s political and social stability.