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ABSTRACT
Securitization and politicization of migration in the EU, led the states in its periphery to strategically use migration management in negotiations for a wide range of issues. In this setting, Turkish case is unique due to the country’s dual considerations: (i) maintain the accession conditionality framework for longer term benefits and (ii) negotiate through ‘migration diplomacy’ for shorter-term concessions. This article analyses the last two decades of EU-Turkey relationship on migration management, through four case studies representing the migration policy field including regular migration, irregular migration and asylum. It presents the evolution and transformation of migration policy to become a subject of diplomacy and the interplay between accession conditionality and migration diplomacy in Turkey’s relationship with the EU. It shows that, in all policy fields, with the decline in its accession prospects, Turkey was empowered to negotiate through migration diplomacy by establishing issue linkages between various issues including visa liberalization, and the promise of cooperation in migration policy field. This trend of conducting negotiations in the framework of migration diplomacy rather than in an asymmetrical manner through accession conditionality, is expected to become the norm in the future of EU-Turkey relationship.
Notes
1 Turkey has signed readmission agreements with the following countries: Greece (2001); Syria (2001); Kyrgyzstan (2003); Romania (2004); Ukraine (2005); Pakistan (2010); Nigeria (2011); Russian Federation (2011); Yemen (2011); Bosnia Herzegovina (2012); Moldavia (2012).
2 The Agreement Creating an Association between the Republic of Turkey and the European Economic Community, signed in 1963, and determines the framework for the co-operation between Turkey and the European Union (EU).
3 Author Interview, EU Directorate General Home Affairs, Official C.
4 Author Interview, Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Official A.
5 Author Interview, EU Directorate General Home Affairs, Official A.
6 Author Interview, EU Directorate General Enlargement, Official C; EU Directorate General Home Affairs, Official C.
7 Author Interview, EU Directorate General Home Affairs, Official C.
8 Author Interview, Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Official A.
9 Law No. 6458.
10 National Action Plan of Turkey for the Adoption of EU Acquis in the Field of Asylum and Migration adopted in 25 March 2005 is available in the DGMM’s website: http://www.goc.gov.tr/icerik3/iltica-ve-goc-ulusal-eylem-plani_327_344_699. Retrieved on June 28, 2018.
11 Author Interview, Turkish Ministry for EU Affairs, Official A.
12 Author Interview, International Organization for Migration, Official A, Official B.
13 Author Interview, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Official A.
14 Author Interview, International Organization for Migration, Official A; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Official B.
15 Author Interview, EU Directorate General Enlargement, Official B.
16 Author Interview, International Organization for Migration, Official A.
17 Although initial flows began in December 2011, the number of Syrian asylum seekers registered in Turkey raised alarm for the Turkish policy makers only in mid-2013, as their numbers reached to 500,000. The data is obtained from the UNHCR Syria Regional Refugee Response, available in: http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/country.php?id=224. Retrieved on February 15, 2019.
18 Author Interview, Turkish Ministry for EU Affairs, Official B; Author Interview, Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Official A.
19 Author Interview, Turkish Ministry of Interior, Official A.
20 Author Interview, Delegation of the EU to Turkey, Official B; EU Directorate General Enlargement, Official B; Official C.
21 Council Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 of November 14, 2018 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement [2018] OJ L 303/39.
22 Author Interview, EU Directorate General Home Affairs, Official B.
23 Author Interview, EU Directorate General Home Affairs, Official C.
24 Author Interview, EU Directorate General Home Affairs, Official B.
25 Author Interview, EU Directorate General Enlargement, Official C.
26 Author Interview, Turkish Ministry for EU Affairs, Official A; Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Official A; Turkish Ministry of Interior, Official A.
27 Author Interview, Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Official A.
28 Author Interview, Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Official A; Turkish Ministry for EU Affairs, Official A, Official B.
29 Author Interview, Delegation of the EU to Turkey, Official B.
30 The data is gathered from the UNHCR’s Operational Portal on Refugee Situations, Mediterranean Situation: https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/mediterranean. Retrieved on March 3, 2019.
31 Agence France-Presse in Ankara (2016, February 12). Turkish president threatens to send millions of Syrian refugees to EU. Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/12/turkish-president-threatens-to-send-millions-of-syrian-refugees-to-eu, on March 4, 2019.
32 For more information see European Commission-Fact Sheet, EU-Turkey Joint Action Plan, 15 October 2015. Retrieved from http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-15-5860_en.htm, on March 3, 2019.
33 Al Jazeera (2016, February 11). Erdoğan: Otobüsler, Uçaklar boşuna durmuyor (Erdoğan: The Busses and the Planes are not for Nothing). Al Jazeera Turk. Retrieved from http://www.aljazeera.com.tr/haber/erdogan-otobusler-ucaklar-bosuna-durmuyor, on March 4, 2019.