What must the European Union do in the Syrian crisis?

The demand of the Syrian people for democracy and for a better future has led to massive humane tragedies, due to schemes by the great states, including the deaths of 400,000 Syrians, the expulsion of nearly 10 million refugees, 1 million injured and other traumas.

In the face of the righteous demands of the Syrian people for dignity and a role in governance, the United States acted hesitantly. The political space abandoned by the U.S. inaction did not just invoke aggressive policies of Russia and Iran in the region, with Russia aiming to regain Cold War power, but also led European countries to face a refugee threat as well as Russian expansionism.

At the beginning of the Syrian crisis, the hesitancy of the U.S. was overshadowed by the controversies over the existence of DAESH, al-Qaida, al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra and now the PYD. The lack of action by the U.S. in Syria has become all the more blatant in exposing the desperation of the Western alliance.

After all those gloomy developments in the Syrian crisis, what must the European Union do in the face of the massive waves of migrants? Against the Western sanctions toward Russia due to its annexation of Crimea and parts of Ukraine, Russia responded by exacerbating the Syrian refugee crisis. The impotence of the U.S. and the EU in the Syrian civil war is concatenated by Russia's aggressive foreign policy.

For the EU, the only way out from the ongoing crisis is to bring the Syrian refugees back to their homelands by defending the unity of Syria. Beyond their economic interests, the political interests of the EU member states in the Middle East are gravely jeopardized by their inactivity in the Syrian crisis, which has already created a grand refugee crisis in the heart of Europe.

The Sunni oppositional groups, representing the greatest portion of the Syrian people, are being supported by the U.S., Turkey and Saudi Arabia. By the support of the EU, those legitimate groups will come to power in the first general elections; thus the schemes of Russia and Iran will in the end fail. While supporting an electoral regime in Iraq, Iran works for despotism in Syria, as the results of a prospective general election would undoubtedly be in favor of the Sunni political groups.

Syria's transition to democracy through elections is compatible with Western values; but the EU, just like the U.S., struggles only with the refugee crisis, instead of taking constructive roles in the resolution of the Syrian crisis.

Before the Syrian civil war, one might have talked about the significance of the U.K., France, Germany and Italy in world politics. Yet Russia's aggressive maneuvers have greatly weakened the deterrence of NATO and the EU in the international arena.

Turkey, Germany and the U.K., as strong allies of the Western world, should work together to protect the unity of Syria and the realization of the just demands of the Syrian people for democracy and peace. The reasonable policies of these countries, which grasp the dynamics of the region, will certainly inspire the U.S. for the ultimate resolution of the Syrian crisis.

Reasonable policies and a hoped-for stability in Syria will alone put a permanent end to the refugee crisis. The member states of the anti-DAESH military coalition should not be obliged to the PYD, itself a terrorist organization. When the Syrian crisis comes to an end, world governments shouldn't again seek support from another terrorist organization out of fear of DAESH.