Source: İstanbul Gelişim Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi (Istanbul Gelisim University Journal of Social Sciences), Vol. 3, Issue 2, October 2016

Abstract: EU has the most inhabited immigrant population; it has up to a population of 56 million foreign-born people. And due to the perennial war and chaos in the Middle East, the amount of relocated population in the region, especially the number of refugees, ranks the No.1 all over the world. Therefore, to clarify the main patterns of the movement of people in EU and the Middle East is of great significance in terms of the research on the issues of international migration. There are a large number of refugees and asylum seekers heading to EU countries; it can be divided into four stages. Since the Arab Spring, especially after the outbreak of the civil war in Syria in 2011, and the rise of the “Islamic State” in 2013, the whole EU area have experienced the biggest wave of refugees since World War II.

Key Words: EU, Middle East, Immigrant, Refugee, Syria