Population exchange and the politics of ethno-religious fear: the EU–Turkey agreement on Syrian refugees in historical perspective

ABSTRACT

In March 2016, the Europe Union (EU) and Turkey agreed that all refugees who reached Greece through unauthorized means would be returned to Turkey. The deal was the latest effort to ‘stem the tide’ of refugees fleeing the Middle East. This was not the first time negotiations between Europe and Turkey resulted in an agreement concerning problematic populations. As part of negotiations after the First World War, Turkey and Europe agreed that Christians in Turkey would be sent to Greece in exchange for Greece’s small population of Muslims. Goalwin's article draws on historical research and contemporary policy analysis to compare the 2016 EU–Turkey Refugee Agreement and the 1923 Greco-Turkish population exchange. The comparison reveals the European response to today's refugee crisis to be a product of longstanding prejudices in Europe and Turkey alike.

KEYWORDS:

• European Union
• EU–Turkey Agreement on Refugees
• migration
• population exchange
• refugee crisis
• Syria
• Turkey

Notes

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28 Foreign Office Great Britain, Lausanne Conference on Near Eastern Affairs 1922–1923, 123.

29 Clark, Twice a Stranger, 94.

30 Ibid.

31 Foreign Office Great Britain, Lausanne Conference on Near Eastern Affairs 1922–1923, 828.

32 Stephen P. Ladas, The Exchange of Minorities; Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey (New York: Macmillan 1932).

33 Ibid., 379–83.

34 Clark, Twice a Stranger, 87.

35 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Global Trends: Forced Displacement 2015 (Geneva: UNHCR 2016), available on the UNHCR website at www.unhcr.org/576408cd7 (viewed 14 March 2018).

36 United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, ‘Syrian Arab Republic: key figures’, 2016, available on the UNOCHA website at www.unocha.org/syria (viewed 14 March 2018).

37 ‘Operational Portal, refugee situations: Syria regional refugee response’, 22 March 2018, available on the UNHCR website at http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/country.php?id=224 (viewed 28 March 2018).

38 Anja Palm, ‘Did 2016 mark a new start for EU external migration policy, or was it business as usual?’, IAI Working Papers, vol. 16, no. 33, 2016, 1–18.

39 Richard Wike, Bruce Stokes and Katie Simmons, Europeans Fear Wave of Refugees Will Mean More Terrorism, Fewer Jobs (Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center 2016), available on the Pew Research Center website at www.pewglobal.org/files/2016/07/Pew-Research-Center-EU-Refugees-and-National-Identity-Report-FINAL-July-11-2016.pdf (viewed 22 March 2018).

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43 Human Rights Watch, ‘EU/Greece: first Turkey deportations riddled with abuse’, 19 April 2016, available on the Human Rights Watch website at www.hrw.org/news/2016/04/19/eu/greece-first-turkey-deportations-riddled-abuse (viewed 14 March 2018).

44 Amnesty International, ‘Turkey: illegal mass returns of Syrian refugees expose fatal flaws in EU–Turkey deal’, press release, 1 April 2016, available on the Amnesty International website at www.amnesty.org/en/press-releases/2016/04/turkey-illegal-mass-returns-of-syrian-refugees-expose-fatal-flaws-in-eu-turkey-deal/ (viewed 14 March 2018).

45 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, ‘Mediterranean death toll soars to all-time high’, 25 October 2016, available on the UNHCR website at www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2016/10/580f1d044/mediterranean-death-toll-soars-2016-deadliest-year.html (viewed 14 March 2018).

46 Gerald Knaus, ‘Keeping the Aegean agreement afloat’, Turkish Policy Quarterly, vol. 15, no. 3, 2016, 43–50.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gregory J. Goalwin

Gregory J. Goalwin holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara and currently serves as Lecturer in Sociology at California State University, Channel Islands. His research examines religion, culture and the formation of ethnic and national identity, with particular focus on Ireland and the Republic of Turkey. Email: [email protected]