Refugee Policy of the Turkish Republic (original) (raw)
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Refugee Policy The Turkish Republic
DergiPark (Istanbul University), 2002
Turkey is at the centre of refugee movements due to historical and geographical reasons. This article analyzes distinct Ottoman and Turkish policies regarding refiıges and asylum seekers. Turkey signed the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol with a geographical restriction. The implications of such a limitation, Turkish experience with a number of mass influxes of refugees, current refugee flows particularly from the Middle East, the 1994 Regulations and the UNHCR's role to conduct refugee status determination and resettlement will be evaluated.
Analysis of the Refugee Protection and Asylum Policy in Turkey
2020
In today's world, 'refuge' is an essential component of sociopolitical crises. However, because of the sensitive human component, such crises must be handled with caution to avoid further problems. Therefore, it is critical to constantly analyse, evaluate, and develop asylum and protection policies. Turkey has long been a country of entry or residence for immigrants; however, in recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of displaced people attempting to reside in Turkey or enter Western European countries. As a result, Turkey's asylum and protection policy was revised to reflect the new reality. This study examines the problem's historical context, analyses Turkey's current asylum and protection policy, assesses the barriers to a more practical application, and proposes alternative, long-term solutions.
Migration Policy of Turkey: Syrian Refugee Crisis
CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research - Zenodo, 2023
The civil war in Syria caused the appearance of the mass flow of refugees heading to neighbouring countries, such as Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Turkey. Currently, according to the UN, their number reaches almost 6 million people. Considering the continuing unstable situation, it is clear that most of them will stay there for a long time, which makes it important to identify the degree of readiness of host countries to adapt such a huge number of newcomers. The largest number of them turned out to be in Turkey and, above all, in the borderline SouthEastern regions of the country with their diverse ethnic and religious composition of the population, which became a challenge for maintaining stability and sustainable development of the entire Turkish society. The article deals with historical aspects of Turkey's migration policy. As a methodological basis, we chose an analysis of normative texts that allows us to identify changes in approaches to migration policy interms of terminology and content. It is revealed that throughout history, the country has applied the geographical principle of ranking immigrants from European and non-European regions, which was associated with the processes of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the influx of Turkish and Muslim population to the interior of Anatolia from the Balkan provinces. The special terminology developed over time in Turkish legislation reflects the traditions of the migration policy of the late Ottoman and early Republican periods. It is concluded that there is an urgent need for reviewing the migration policy framework, both at the conceptual and institutional levels.
Review of History and Political Science, 2017
Asylum policies are not only bunch of laws and regulations drawn on the registers by the power institutions. Instead, they are social structures that evolve within certain historical context and under various historical moments and developments. They have their historical memories of social learning and construction. Placed at the crossroad of Europe, Middle East, Eurasia and Africa Turkey has been both country of transit and asylum that accumulated a long and diverse memory of forced immigrations. The following study investigates in what ways Turkey use to approach and manage all these asylum movements and how Ottoman asylum policy and experience found reflection on its current asylum policy towards Syrian refugee flows? Is there historical continuity in its asylum policies? What are the turning points and changes in the historical development of its asylum policies and practices? At what manner Europeanisation encountered the Ottoman legacies in the field of asylum? How all those challenges and continuities found reflection in the temporary protection policy towards the Syrian refugee flow?
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION AND REFUGEES IN THE 21ST CENTURY A PERSPECTIVE OF TURKEY
2020
In addition to the Syrian Civil War, millions of people who are struggling with poverty, hunger, economic and political instability, famine and drought, and who have crossed borders to maintain their vital existence, have been moving from East to West, from North to South. Turkey is a country located in the heart of the phenomena of migration – a fundamental characteristic of human history – as well as of the global and regional crises. In line with her history, culture and social fabric, Turkey is home to the world’s largest immigrant/refugee/asylum-seeker population. The humanitarian aid delivered to these migrant groups constituting approximately 5% of the country’s population makes Turkey the largest donor country. On the other hand, the spatial distribution of immigrant groups within the borders of the country is disproportionate and the risk that this situation poses in terms of national security; the issues ranging from the events of theft and violence to child brides to polygamy, to various factors such as the impact on the social fabric of the country and the burden on the country’s economy within the scope of services such as education, health and social services should be carefully scrutinised. It should be questioned how long Turkey can sustain this situation, which assumes the responsibility and burden of the geographies that the developed/prosperous countries ignore, seem to be unable to hear and feel. Moreover, while dealing with a number of problems in human, political, social, cultural and economic fields, the current situation of Turkey, which is increasingly being alienated and tried to destabilize, shows the importance of this question. In particular, the psychological climate of the Turkish society and the social reactions that can be caused by the radical demographic and socio-cultural changes may cause some fractures and conflicts. Therefore, policies, and projects put forward in order to deal with the life/integration/ adaptation processes and to compensate for potential problems need to be produced on ‘’a common mind’’. Migration in Turkey is not only a matter of definition and classification but also a multi-disciplinary phenomenon that needs to be addressed within the framework of the relationship of understanding. This work, produced in different areas of theoretical and applied studies (such as History, Public Administration, Law, International Relations, Education, Economics, Sociology, Health Services, Geography, and Communication) discusses at length the phenomenon of migration in Turkey by combining historical and current views of: 1. In this course, Haluk Songur and Fatma Sırtkaya depict the course of migration in the historical process, which still preserves its importance in the present day, in terms of Turkish legal history and contemplation, and the reasons of migration from the Ottoman period to the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, and how the state adopts a policy in the face of migration.2. In terms of “The Turkish Public Administration, Migration Policy and Organizational Structure: A Current Perspective”, Erdal Eke depicts the current status of migration policies and the migration organization formed within the framework of these policies especially after the 2000s. Within the scope of the study, especially after the Law No. 6458, the migration management is described at the central and local level and in 2018, the effects of changes related to the Presidential Government System on the management of migration are evaluated and an up-to-date perspective is drawn accordingly. 3. With her work entitled “The Validity of Status and the Validity of Local Integration as a Permanent Solution”, Arzu Güler evaluates the status of refugees and the refugees brought by the international protection law and questions the impact of this status on local integration. 4. With his work entitled “Humanitarian Diplomacy in the Turkish Foreign Policy and the Syria Crisis”, Adem Ali İren the humanitarian diplomacy process of the Turkish Republic on migration and the mobility of migration from Syria. The study underlines the fact that the Turkish Republic has become the real practitioner of humanitarian values by becoming the initiator and the main donor of humanitarian aid campaigns as well as being a mediator in the solution of the humanitarian crises and political problems in recent years. 5. Ahmet Yıldırım evaluates the policies and practices of the Ministry of National Education for the education of Syrian children who come to Turkey/to take refuge in terms of process management with the project entitled “Evaluation of The Policies of the Ministry of National Education in Terms of Process Management” on the axis of migration and refugees. 6. “Humanitarian Aid for Refugees: Turkey Dimension” with their work, Ahmet Songur and İbrahim Demirtaş try to describe the economic burden of education, health, social services undertaken by the Republic of Turkey as a result of migration in recent years through various statistics. 7. Hasan Hüseyin Aygül, with his work entitled “Experiences Relating to Refugees Labour Force Participation and Markets” addresses the employment areas and conditions of different migrant groups in Isparta, one of Turkey’s 62 satellite cities, and sets out the current problems of migrant groups based on market experience. 8. Fatih Kahraman, with his work entitled “The situation of Syrian Unaccompanied Refugee Children in Turkey”, discusses the situation of unaccompanied refugee children, one of the most influential groups of the civil war that continues since 2011 in Syria, within the framework of statistics of national and international institutions and studies on the issue.9. “The Effects of Migration on the Turkish Health System: On the Case of Syrian Asylum Seekers”, Osman Çöllü, discusses the effects of Syrian asylum seekers on the Turkish Health System through various statistics in terms of both individual and community health and health services.10. With their work entitled “Problems of Nursing Students Studying in the Province of Border, Kilis and Providing Healthcare to Syrian Patients in the Clinical Practice Area”, Çiçek-Korkmaz, Şekeroğlu and Bilgen, convey the health care conditions offered to Syrian refugees in Kilis, and the problems experienced by nursing students studying in the clinical practice areas in Kilis. 11. With her work entitled “A New Life Beyond the Border Syrian Asylum Seekers and The Geographical Effects of Migration: On The Case of Kilis”, Muazzez Harunoğulları reveals the Syrian refugee migration in Kilis, which is a border city and has almost as many Syrian refugees as its population, and the socio-spatial, cultural and economic effects of this migration, as well as the new social structure and problems that occur in the city. 12. With his work entitled “Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Turkey: A Comparison of Online Media Discourses”, Rıza Ersin Öztürk compares the rhetoric developed by Hürriyet and Takvim online newspapers for refugees on a digital basis and ultimately asks whether the viewpoint on migration can be singularized. This book, which examines the phenomenon of migration from the perspective of the 21st century in a multidimensional way, provides contribution to the relevant literature as well as to the dynamism given by the collective power in scientific production and reveals the historical mission of Turkey. We would like to thank all of our authors who contributed to the creation of this book, Gülfem Dursun and especially the Nobel Publishing House (Nobel Yayınevi).
Domestic and International Factors in Migrant and Asylum Policy Developments in Turkey
This paper looks at the refugee crisis, the development of migrant and asylum policies as a response to this crisis, and the different factors influencing these policies. It will particularly focus on Turkey, a country geographically positioned as the gateway of origin countries to Western Europe. Through a review of related bibliographies, as well as laws and policies, this paper traces the development of the Turkey’s laws and policies on migration and asylum issues. The interplay of the key factors is also demonstrated through the developments of Turkey’s policies.
Toward a New Asylum Regime in Turkey
Although Turkey is party to the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, it extends its protection only to refugees with ›European countries of origin.‹ Under this regulation, Turkey grants only ›temporary asylum‹ to non-European refugees until the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) resettles them to a third country. In this fragmented configuration, refugees in Turkey occupy ambivalent spaces in-between national and international bodies of law, while navigating both the multiplicity of asylum authorities and the sophisticated techniques meant to evaluate their asylum claims. In line with Turkey's European Union accession, the Turkish government has recently attempted to restructure the country's migration/asylum regime, aiming to provide better protection to refugees in accordance with international human rights standards. This article critically examines the recent changes towards a) standardizing and systematizing the legal and administrative asylum procedures, and b) civilianizing the migration/asylum management that used to be coordinated largely by the police. We argue that, on the one hand, Turkey's asylum regime continues to give rise to uncertainty, unpredictability, and improvisation and, on the other hand, it presents a striking continuity with the previous regime in that it prioritizes securitizing migration/asylum management over ensuring the rights and protections of refugees. Vol. 3, Issue 2/2017 | www.movements-journal.org
National and International Policies Nexus: Turkey's Changing Refugee Regime
The Second Syrian Crisis: Contunity and Change
Much has changed about Turkey’s migration and refugee policy since the initial flows of displaced populations arrived in 2014, following the outbreak of war in Syria. The country’s refugee regime has evolved: from “open door” to the construction of a long wall on the border; from a “humanitarian approach” to being “no longer able to hold onto refugees.” This gradual yet drastic shift in Turkey’s migration and refugee policy should be understood against the backdrop of an international context. On the one hand, Turkey had to recalibrate its official welcoming policy, to be aligned with its foreign policy and socioeconomic challenges. The long summer of migration in 2015 signaled a new era for migration policy. On a foreign policy level, mass refugee crossings to Europe via Turkey brought about the EU-Turkey Joint Action Plan and the infamous EU-Turkey Deal through which Ankara assumed a role in in EU migrationexternalisation policy. On a domestic political level, refugee policy has become a focal point of Turkish political discourse, frequently raised by the opposition in its criticism of the government. Subsequently, there has been a surge in hate speech, attacks and lootings directed against refugees, as well as virally trending racist social media hashtags, steering the government towards a more nationalist and unwelcoming policy. Against this background, this paper sets out to evaluate Turkey’s asylum regime and its impact on refugees, taking into account a changing domestic and international context.