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ABSTRACT
This article explores Turkey’s century-long asylum policies by highlighting two enduring policy considerations. The first is Turkey's process of convergence with the norms and principles of the global refugee regime. The second is the persistent practice of granting refugees protection of a temporary nature. These two policy considerations are discussed by employing the conceptual frameworks of ‘policy diffusion’ and the ‘nationalizing migration state.’ The study concludes that Turkey’s asylum policies have been shaped by the tension between these two policy considerations over the past century.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Correction Statement
This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Notes
1 In this article, the term ‘refugee’ is used in a broad and generic sense to include internationally displaced persons and individuals with any type of international protection status such as temporary, subsidiary, or humanitarian protection.
2 UNHCR, “Türkiye Fact Sheet.”
3 Adamson and Tsourapas, “The Migration State.”
4 Cooper, Citizenship, Inequality, 95.
5 Özçürümez and Hamer, “Influence and Impact.”
6 Yıldız, The European Union’s, 129.
7 Strang, “Adding Social,” 325.
8 Walker, “The Diffusion.”
9 Simmons and Elkins, “The Globalization,” 172.
10 Grossback, Nicholson-Crotty, and Peterson, “Ideology and Learning,” 523.
11 Solingen, “Of Dominoes,” 632.
12 Özçürümez and Hamer, “Influence and Impact.”
13 Adamson and Tsourapas, “The Migration State.”
14 Zolberg, “The Formation.”
15 Brubaker, Citizenship and Nationhood.
16 Adamson and Tsourapas, “The Migration State,” 856.
17 Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism, 10.
18 Gilroy, There Ain't, 74.
19 Doty, “Immigration and National Identity.”
20 Adamson and Tsourapas, “The Migration State,” 871.
21 Sassen, “Beyond Sovereignty.”
22 Risse, Ropp, and Sikkink, The Power.
23 Krasner, “Structural Causes,” 185.
24 Betts, “The Refugee Regime,” 13.
25 Loescher, Beyond Charity.
26 Betts, “The Refugee Regime,” 13.
27 Ibid., 13.
28 Lord Curzon quoted in Marcus, The Unwanted, 41.
29 Soğuk, States and Strangers, 103.
30 Gordenker, Refugees, 15.
31 Holborn, Refugees, 3–4.
32 Soğuk, States and Strangers, 43.
33 Holborn, Refugees, 9.
34 Grahl-Madsen, The Status, 9.
35 Ibid., 12.
36 Soğuk, States and Strangers, 152–4.
37 Vernant, The Refugee, 84, 92–3, and Holborn, Refugees, 17–31.
38 Holborn, Refugees, 15.
39 Ibid., 81.
40 UN General Assembly, July 28, 1951, 137. These countries were Colombia, France, Italy and Turkey. For the declaration made by the Turkish representative see page 196.
41 Holborn, Refugees, 145.
42 Wasserstein, “European Refugee.”
43 Soğuk, States and Strangers, 173, and Holborn, Refugees, 178.
44 UN General Assembly, January 31, 1967.
45 UNHCR, “OAU Convention,” and UNHCR, “Cartagena Declaration.”
46 Koslowski, Global Mobility Regimes, 2.
47 Loescher, “The UNHCR,” 270.
48 Ferris, The Role of Non-Governmental, 117.
49 Milner, “Introduction.”
50 Suhajda, Non-Governmental Organizations.
51 Lester, “A Place at the Table,” 127.
52 Betts, Loescher, and Milner, The United.
53 UNHCR, “Global Trends 2021,” 9.
54 Ibid., 20.
55 Lavenex, “Shifting Up.”
56 UNHCR, “Mid-Year Trends,” 12.
57 Hathaway, “Review of UNHCR's.”
58 Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, “The Right.”
59 Güçlü, “Turkey's Entrance,” and Uturgauri, “Beyaz Ruslar,” 3252.
60 Holborn, Refugees, 8; Marcus, The Unwanted, 103–4; and Soğuk, States and Strangers, 133.
61 Üre, “Remnants of Empires,” 211.
62 Uturgauri, “Beyaz Ruslar,” 3249.
63 Housden, “White Russians.”
64 Uturgauri, “Beyaz Ruslar,” 3250.
65 Acar, “Rusça ve Türkçe,” 16; Uturgauri, “Beyaz Ruslar,” 3249; Üre, “Remnants of Empires,” 213.
66 Üre, “Remnants of Empires,” 13; Uturgauri, “Beyaz Ruslar,” 3252.
67 Üre, “Conditional Welcome,” 14–15.
68 Ibid.
69 Üre, “Remnants of Empires,” 216.
70 Reisman, “German Jewish,” 455.
71 Guttstadt, Turkey, 94.
72 Ibid., 86.
73 Official Gazette, July 15, 1938.
74 Vernant, The Refugee, 246, and Holborn, Refugees, 28, 30–1.
75 UN Archives, September 19, 1946.
76 Vernant, The Refugee, 244, and Marcus, The Unwanted, 272.
77 Vernant, The Refugee, 66–7.
78 The 1951 Convention was ratified and promulgated into national law in 1961: Turkey’s Official Gazette, September 5, 1961.
79 UNHCR, “The Refugee,” 12.
80 Kirişci, “UNHCR and Turkey,” 71.
81 Official Gazette, November 30, 1994.
82 Frelick, “Barriers to Protection,” and Kirişci, “UNHCR and Turkey,” 72.
83 Tolay, “Turkey’s ‘Critical Europeanization’.”
84 Official Gazette, January 13, 1999, and Ministry of Interior, Circular No 57, June 22, 2006.
85 UNHCR, UNHCR Global Report 1999, 363.
86 IOM opened its first office in 1991 in Turkey.
87 Tolay, “Turkey’s ‘Critical Europeanization’.”
88 Aydın and Kirişci, “With or Without.”
89 Bürgin and Aşıkoğlu, “Turkey’s New Asylum,” 123.
90 ASAM, About.
91 Kirişci, “Turkey’s New Draft,” 69.
92 Memişoğlu, Assessing, 47.
93 GAR, “Civil Society,”16.
94 Jimenez, “Stuck.”
95 Açıkgöz and Arıner, “Turkey’s New Law.”
96 Kaya, “Europeanization and De-Europeanization,” 358.
97 Açıkgöz and Arıner, “Turkey’s New Law.”
98 European Commission, October 19, 2021.
99 Official Gazette, August 5, 1968.
100 Maja, “The 1951 Refugee,” 194.
101 Official Gazette, April 4, 2013.
102 Güler, “Turkey’s Geographical Limitation.”
103 PMM. December 22, 2020.
104 Republic of Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “National Programme,” 447.
105 Republic of Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Turkey’s National Action.”
106 European Commission, October 12, 2022.
107 ECHR, June 21, 2022.
108 European Commission, October 19, 2021, 56.
109 See Kirişci, “Refugees.”
110 Kirişci and Yıldız, “Turkey’s Migration.”
111 Official Gazette, June 21, 1934.
112 Kirişci, “Disaggregating Turkish Citizenship.”
113 Aybay, Yurttaşlık Hukuku, 95, and Odman, Mülteci Hukuku, 194.
114 Kirişci, “Refugees,” 408–10.
115 Official Gazette, September 26, 2006.
116 İçduygu and Karadağ, “Afghan Migration,” and Milliyet, October 28, 1982.
117 Kirişci, “Turkey’s New Draft,” 66.
118 Kirişci and Karaca, “Hoşgörü ve Çelişkiler.”
119 Aydıngün, “Ahiska (Meskhetian) Turks.”
120 Karadağ, “Türkiye 2020’den.”
121 İçduygu and Sert, “The Changing Waves,” 99.
122 See Danış and Parla, “Nafile Soydaşlık.”
123 UNHCR, Mid-Year Progress Report 2000- Turkey.
124 Kirişci, “Is Turkey Lifting,” 305.
125 ECRE, Asylum in Europe, 351–2.
126 Kirişci, “Is Turkey Lifting,” 296.
127 UNHCR Turkey, September 2022.
128 Mannaert, “Irregular Migration.”
129 Cumhuriyet, “Türkiye’deki.”
130 Kirişci, “Turkey’s New Draft,” 70–2.
131 UNHCR, UNHCR Global Report 2013.
132 Ibid.
133 UNHCR Turkey, September 2022.
134 Official Gazette, October 22, 2014.
135 UNHCR, Voluntary Syrian Return.
136 PMM, Temporary Protection.
137 Deutche Welle, “Vatandaş Olan.”
138 Official Twitter Account of Deputy Minister of Turkish Interior Ministry.
139 Erdoğan, Syrians Barometer 2021.
140 Saraçoğlu and Bélanger, “Governance Through Discipline,” 466.
141 Yanaşmayan, Üstübici, and Kaşlı, “Under the Shadow.”
142 Calls for their return has sharply increased in recent years from less than 50% calling for their return in 2017 to more than 82% in 2021 (Erdoğan, Syrians Barometer 2021, 14).
143 Ertan, “Erdoğan Unveils.”
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Kemal Kirişci
Kemal Kirişci is a nonresident senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe's Turkey Project at the Brookings Institution. He has more than three decades of academic and policy oriented expertise in refugee studies, political economy of international trade, and foreign policy. From 2013 until 2020, he was TÜSİAD Senior Fellow at Brookings and Director of the Turkey Project. Before joining Brookings, Kirişci was a full Professor of International Relations and held the Jean Monnet Chair in European integration at Boğaziçi University in İstanbul.
Ayselin Yıldız
Ayselin Yildiz is an Associate Professor in the Department of International Relations at Yasar University. She holds the UNESCO Chair on International Migration and is also a committee member of UNESCO Turkey Management of Social Transformations (MOST) and Migration Group. She received her PhD in International Relations and Master of Science in European Studies from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara. She was the founder and director of Yasar University’s European Union Center between 2005 and 2015. She has also held research fellowships at Wageningen University, the University of California (Berkeley), and University of Pittsburgh.