{"id":11488,"date":"2022-11-10T10:57:11","date_gmt":"2022-11-10T10:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/2022\/11\/cu-2\/"},"modified":"2024-11-20T22:06:11","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T19:06:11","slug":"the-evolution-of-turkeys-refugee-policy-bundle-of-contradictions-on-the-long-thin-road-birgul-demirtas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/2022\/11\/the-evolution-of-turkeys-refugee-policy-bundle-of-contradictions-on-the-long-thin-road-birgul-demirtas\/","title":{"rendered":"The Evolution of Turkey\u2019s Refugee Policy: Bundle of Contradictions on the Long Thin Road- Birg\u00fcl Demirta\u015f"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Both Turkish people and Anatolian territory have a\nhistory interwoven with migration. A significant milestone in Turkish history\nis the migration of Turkish people from Central Asia to Anatolia. From that\ntime onwards, Turkish history has always witnessed human mobility. The collapse\nof the Ottoman Empire and then the establishment of the Republic led to the emigration\nof people from Anatolia to neighboring countries on the one hand and\nimmigration from the adjacent territories to Turkey on the other hand. During\nthe long-lasting human mobility that lasted for centuries, Turkey has sometimes\nbecome the origin of migration, sometimes a transition country, and at other\ntimes the target country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this history full of human mobility, what\nTurkey has been experiencing since 2011 differs from the former waves of\nmigration for several reasons. Because of the vast numbers involved in such a\nshort time, Turkey has become the country with the most populous refugee\npopulation in the world. It should be noted that due to its geographical\nreservation to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (Geneva\nConvention), Turkey does not recognize Syrian people as refugees but as people\nunder temporary protection. However, despite this reservation, I use the\nconcept of refugees here because of the facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this regard, according to the statistics of the Presidency\nof Migration Management of the Ministry of Interior, there were 3.646.278 Syrians<\/a> in Turkey with temporary protection status by the end\nof September 2022. If we add other asylum seekers from other countries, the\ntotal number of migrants in Turkey comes to about 4.000.000. There are also unregistered\nasylum seekers, whose number is not included in this statistic. If we add their\nestimated numbers, the total number is substantially higher than the official\nnumber. In this regard, more refugees arrived in Turkey in the last 11 years\n(between 2011-2022) than had been the case in the preceding 87 years between\n1923-2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey and Migration from Syria<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first migrant group from Syria, consisting of 252\npeople, arrived at the Cilveg\u00f6z\u00fc border gate of Turkey on 29 April 2011. At\nthat time Turkish government was following the policy of open borders and\ndefining Syrian refugees as \u201cguests\u201d who were supposed to remain in Turkey till\nthe end of the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The migration of Syrian people to Turkey is different\nfrom the previous migration waves for several reasons. First, the number is\nsubstantially higher than in the earlier cases of human mobility. Second,\nSyrian refugees have different ethnic-cultural characteristics and speak a\nforeign language. In this respect, for example, they differ from the Turks from\nBulgaria, who were forced to migrate to Turkey in 1989. Third, most Syrian\nrefugees cannot return to their mother country and will probably remain in\nTurkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These three characteristics make the recent migration\nwave unique in Turkish history. The opinion polls<\/a> conducted in recent years show that Turkish people\nhave an increasingly hostile attitude towards refugees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From \u201cHelper-Migrant\u201d (Ensar-Muhacir<\/em>)\nDiscourse to \u201cWill We Carry This Burden Alone?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can explain why the refugee issue has become a\nsignificant problem based on the current data. First, the future projection of\nTurkish decision-makers in 2011 has been proven wrong, costing Turkey a lot. At\nthe time, Turkish decision-makers supposed that the Syrian regime would fall in\na few months, and they did not consider different scenarios. As the Syrian refugee\npopulation increased tremendously, Turkey made amendments to its legal system\nto cope with the situation. In this regard, Turkey issued the Law on Foreigners\nand International Protection in April 2013 and prepared Temporary Protection\nRegulation in October 2014. In line with the new regulations, Syrian people are\nconsidered people under temporary protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, the Justice and Development Party (JDP)\ngovernment had initially used religious and emotional motives instead of principles\nof international law to convince the Turkish public to accept the Syrian\nrefugees. However, as time went by, this attitude caused problems. The metaphor of \u201chelper-migrant\u201d (\u201censar-muhacir<\/em>\u201d<\/a>) based on the history of Islam has been used\nrepetitively. The JDP elite has tried to establish a parallel between the\nMuslims under the leadership of Prophet Mohammed, who sought refuge in Medina\nin 622 escaping the atrocities in Mecca. The government has tried to convince\nthe public about the necessity of an open-door policy by appealing to the people’s\nemotions and using these historical-religious metaphors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should be noted that in the official discourse, the\nrights of refugees based on the Geneva Convention were not emphasized. However,\nit is well-proven that if the government’s policy toward refugees is not based\non international law, it will not be sustainable. In short, Turkish decision-makers\nhave not approached the issue of refugees based on their legal rights, but emotional\nand religious explanations were put forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another critical point is that the peak of the refugee\nproblem has been accompanied by a process in which the JDP leadership has tried\nto reconstruct the concept of Westernism (Bat\u0131c\u0131l\u0131k-Garp\u00e7\u0131l\u0131k<\/em>).\nOn the one hand, the government has described Turkey as a country that\nimplemented a humanitarian policy towards refugees by pursuing an open-door\npolicy and providing every kind of assistance. On the other hand, European\ncountries are being accused of<\/a> a racist populist policy by closing their doors.\nTherefore, the distinction between \u201cwe\u201d versus \u201cthey\u201d was strengthened. In this\nway, the refugee issue has not only become a domestic issue but has also become\nan instrument of foreign policy. In this framework, whenever the government wants\nto criticize the West, the refugee issue has become a factor of \u201cotherization\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, we should also underline the incoherent discourse\nof the government. As the civil war in Syria started in 2011, dynamics of\ndomestic policy, as well as perceptions of public opinion, have directly\naffected the attitudes of political leaders. In turn, this has resulted in\ndifferent discourses toward refugees. In this framework, sometimes citizenship\nhas been promised to refugees, but at other times, it has been stated that they\ncan move to European countries or return to their countries. President Erdo\u011fan,\nfor example, said on 5 September 2019 that Turkey wanted to establish a safe\nzone in Syria. And he further explained that if this could not be achieved, Turkey needed to open its borders<\/a>. About a month later, on 10 October 2019, he called\non Europe by stating, \u201cEuropean Union, come to yourself. If you describe our\noperation as an invasion (i\u015fgal<\/em>), we have an easy job. We will open the\ndoors. We will send<\/a>\n3.6 million refugees to you.\u201d About one month later, he came up with an\nopposite statement: \u201cWe share the worries of people who are far away from us by\nthousands, ten thousand kilometers because of the common denominator of Islam,\nbeing an umma\u2026Some say that \u2018Syrians should go\u2019. We would not accept it.\nUniversal Islamic brotherhood does not have a border. Nobody can plant the\nseeds of separation between us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result of these wavering policy lines, in one\ninstance, Turkey opened the border gate with Greece on 28 February and\nencouraged the flow of refugees<\/a>. This quick policy shift shows how the government\u2019s policies\ntowards refugees can be reformulated daily with the current political\ninterests. For example, in contrast to the above statement, President Erdo\u011fan stated<\/a> on 2 March 2020, after the Greek border was opened, that the \u201cEuropean\nUnion implements double standards today\u2026Where are the fair burden and\nresponsibility sharing? Should we carry this burden alone?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contradictions of discourses and policies of the government\ntowards Syrian refugees are not limited to these examples. Although the government\nhad named the refugees as \u201cguests\u201d, \u201csisters and brothers\u201d, and \u201chelper-immigrant\u201d\n(ensar-muhacir<\/em>) in the first few years of the migration flow, this\ndiscourse came to an end in recent years, as various opinion polls indicated\nincreasing negative views of the public towards the refugee population. In\naddition, a linkage between the government\u2019s policies towards migration and its\ndefeat in the 2019 local elections was presumed. All these factors had an\nimpact on the changing discourses and policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, a new nationalist right-wing political\nparty called Victory Party (Zafer Partisi<\/em>)\nhas securitized the issue and claimed that as soon as it comes to power, it\nwill send all the refugees back to their homelands. Indeed, Turkish rulers have\nclaimed<\/a> that 1.000.000 Syrian people under temporary protection will return to\nSyria to settle at homes that Turkey has constructed for them in the north of\nthe country. As Turkey has already entered the election atmosphere, the\ngovernment increasingly states that it will encourage the refugees to return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The refugee issue has become a vital topic in domestic\npolitical discourse that will impact the country\u2019s future domestic and external\npolicies. The previous examples in migration history prove that most of these\npeople will continue to stay in Turkey. On the one hand, refugees are becoming\nincreasingly permanent; on the other hand, the Turkish public has more negative\nviews towards them, and some political parties are pursuing policies to\nconstruct them as \u201cother\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While people under temporary protection have rights\nstemming from national and international legislation, the Turkish public also has\nlegitimate concerns about the results of this vast migration movement on the country’s\nfuture. Moreover, when domestic economic problems deepen, and new refugee\nmovements emerge due to the war in Ukraine, this issue will continue to be a significant\nchallenge for Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, Turkish governments have followed ever-changing\npolicies toward the migration flow after the beginning of the Syrian civil war\nin 2011. Open-door policy during the early years has changed over time. On the\none hand, they are encouraged to return to their homeland. On the other hand, they\ncan settle wherever they want within the country. Through time the discourse\nbased on religion and affection has declined considerably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Large human mobilizations constitute severe challenges\nfor all countries, including Turkey. Should Turkish rulers wish to deal with\nthe issue successfully in the future, they need to create a rational balance\nbetween the rights of refugees under international law and the increasing\nconcerns of the Turkish public. In this framework, we can state that constantly\nchanging the discourse and policies toward refugees for the sake of day-to-day\npolitical expectations will serve neither the interests of refugees nor the\ninterests of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* The author has benefitted from the following study\nin preparing this analysis: Birg\u00fcl Demirta\u015f, \u201cT\u00fcrkiye\u2019de Siyasi Partiler ve Suriyeli M\u00fclteciler: Zorlu 10 Y\u0131l\u0131n\nAnalizi\u201d, Berk Esen ve Ba\u015far Baysal (eds.), Ele\u015ftirel G\u00fcvenlik ve T\u00fcrkiye. Uluslararas\u0131 \u0130li\u015fkilerde\nAlternatif Yakla\u015f\u0131m<\/em>, \u0130stanbul, \u0130leti\u015fim\nYay\u0131nlar\u0131, 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Prof. Dr. Birg\u00fcl Demirta\u015f, Turkish-German University<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Birg\u00fcl Demirta\u015f is a faculty member at the Turkish-German University. She completed her undergraduate education in Bo\u011fazi\u00e7i University, her graduate education in Bilkent University, and her doctorate in Free University of Berlin (Freie Universitaet Berlin). She works on Turkish foreign policy, German foreign policy, the Balkans, local diplomacy and gender in academia.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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To cite this work: <\/strong>Birg\u00fcl Demirta\u015f, \u201cThe Evolution of Turkey\u2019s Refugee Policy: Bundle of Contradictions on the Long Thin Road\u201d, Panorama, Online, 10 November 2022, https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/blog\/2022\/11\/10\/cu\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This article has been prepared with the support provided to the International Relations Council<\/a> and the Global Academy<\/a> by the Heinrich B\u00f6ll Stiftung Association Turkey Representative within the scope of the project titled ‘Foreign Policy for the 21st Century; Peaceful, Equitable, and Dynamic Turkey’.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Copyright@UIKPanorama. All on-line and print rights reserved. Opinions expressed in works published by the Panorama belongs to the authors alone unless otherwise stated, and do not imply endorsement by the IRCT, Global Academy, or the Editors\/Editorial Board of Panorama.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Both Turkish people and Anatolian territory have a history interwoven with migration. A significant milestone in Turkish history is the migration of Turkish people from Central Asia to Anatolia. From that time onwards, Turkish history has always witnessed human mobility. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire and then the establishment of the Republic led to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":9671,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[510,486,508],"tags":[656,713,587,614,650],"class_list":["post-11488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-100-years-of-the-republic","category-opinion","category-turkey","tag-english","tag-heinrich-boll-foundation","tag-migration","tag-refugee","tag-turkiye"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}