On May 2, 1989, the Hungarian government took the initiative to dismantle its 240-kilometer barbed wire fence on its Austrian border. That was the time when the Soviet Union still existed and Hungary was a satellite socialist country with limited sovereignty. Thousands of East German comrades spending vacations in Hungary next to Lake Balaton where they had limited but real opportunities to meet with their relatives living in West Germany saw an important opportunity there. The East German government did not want to make too much noise about the situation since they were preparing for the 40th anniversary of the German Democratic Republic. Hungarian authorities decided not to intervene, mainly to test the attitude of the new Soviet administration, led by Mikhail Sergueievitch Gorbachev. There was a "friendship picnic" organized by both Austrian and Hungarian promoters at a border crossing in Sopron. The whole Austro-Hungarian gathering was seen by the East Germans as a possibility to cross the very lightly guarded border, and flyers were even circulated among East Germans to show the way to the border crossing. Miklos Nemeth, the socialist Hungarian prime minister at that time, took the decision of letting East German citizens cross the border and gave orders to border guards not to intervene. In one day, over 900 Germans fled to the "West." Back in these times, refugees from the Eastern bloc were not expelled from Western European countries. The Hungarian borders were opened on Sept. 11 and the Berlin Wall fell on Nov. 9.Now how did a very seemingly strong system implode without much of an external intervention? In Eastern Europe, despite authoritarian governments, the people demanded democratic elections, freedom of speech and the withdrawal of Soviet troops. The physical obstacles did not stop the social outburst.A very similar thing happened with the Arab Spring. The people demanded democratic elections, freedom of speech and the withdrawal of the oppressive military presence loyal to the abhorred regimes. What they have obtained was terrible. This time, totalitarian regimes were not prepared to leave the field to democratic forces. As a result, the whole Middle East is in ruins and there is a terrible flux of refugees mainly from Syria, Iraq, but also Libya and Yemen. The major refuge for these unfortunate people has been Turkey for the last five years. There are nearly 2 million Syrians in Turkey, and the authorities do not give precise numbers as to how many other refugees are in the country because it is an ever increasing number.Up until very recently, there were only a tiny number of these refugees living in Turkey who tried to continue their exodus toward European Union countries, especially Germany. For the last few months, there has been a tsunami of the same refugees who desperately try to reach Greece illegally, and from there on to Western Europe. The situation on the Greek-Macedonian border is inhumane and neither the Greek nor Macedonian security forces, despite using violence, have been able to stop the thousands of refugees with their children from crossing the border. The whole situation is reminiscent of the bands of wandering poor storming the countryside in 13th century Europe.Why this recent urge for a huge number of refugees to leave Turkey at all costs as the passage by sea to Greece on frail boats can be very dangerous? Because Turkey, a country where democratic rule prevailed and peace reigned, has entered into a very vicious struggle against the PKK, a Kurdish separatist terror movement. All these refugees have the memory of peaceful times suddenly stopped by what seemed to be non-violent demonstrations followed by a civil war and nightmarish developments. They probably fear that something similar might happen in Turkey. This is very unlikely, but it shows something vitally important: Turkish power and influence in the region and elsewhere stems from its political and social stability in a sea of warfare, deportations, killings and destruction. Once this stability is slightly scorned, Turkey loses its strength and dependability. This is a very important issue to be taken into serious consideration by all the political movements in Turkey.