Reluctant border agents: enlistment of transportation workers in procedures to limit refugee mobilities in Turkey

ABSTRACT

This article examines the enlistment of transportation workers in the procedures of bordering internal mobilities of refugees in Turkey. Drawing primarily on conceptual debates regarding bordering, the role of citizens in enacting the state, and (non)citizenship, it explores the ways in which transportation workers, as well as refugees, in their daily lives navigate the ever-expanding borders in the control-oriented Turkish asylum context. It argues that delegation of state power to citizens opens a space for noncitizens to exercise their right to mobility despite their lack of legal entitlement. On the other hand, such delegation removes the interactions from procedural safeguards and potentially harms refugees’ right claims. As a consequence, realization of refugees’ mobility claims depends significantly on how transportation workers understand and negotiate their assigned role as internal border agents within the ambivalent political and legal context of Turkey.

KEYWORDS:

• Noncitizenship
• refugees
• Turkey
• everyday bordering
• transportation
• compliance
• borders

Acknowledgment

I would like to thank Zeynep Yanaşmayan, Larissa Vetters and Sophie Andreetta, the editors of this special issue, for their support, encouragement and critical feedback on the manuscript. I am also grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their suggestions and comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Retrieved 14 September 2021, from http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/haber/turkiye/370705/Caresiz_bekleyis.html and https://t24.com.tr/haber/bilet-satilmayan-multeciler-otogarda-sabahliyor,309708

2. I have limited my analysis to Syrian and Iranian refugees, as they represent two main types of refugee groups in Turkey. I acknowledge the fact that the limitations over residency place choice and internal travel for Iranian conditional refugees share some similarities with other non-Syrian refugees, especially with Afghan refugees who form the largest non-Syrian refugee group in Turkey. For an analysis of Afghan refugees in Turkey, e.g. see (Karadağ 2021; İçduygu and Karadağ 2018).

3. PDDMs are the local branches of the Presidency of Migration Management of the Ministry of Interior (PMM) (formerly known as Directorate General of Migration Management - DGMM) and manages migration related issues at the provincial scale.

4. Other scholars also highlight the arbitrariness in the implementation of the travel permit regulation, see e.g. (Gokalp Aras and Şahin Mencütek 2019).

5. For an analysis of this circular see (Gokalp Aras and Şahin Mencütek 2019; İşleyen 2018).

6. For an example see http://www.izmir.gov.tr/idari-para-cezasi-uygulanmasina-valilik-karari, retrieved 4 October 2021.

7. Retrieved, 16 September 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/29/world/europe/turkey-migrants-eu.html; see also the report by Fırat Çoban prepared for the Association for Migration Research (GAR - Göç Araştırmaları Derneği) in Turkey https://www.gocarastirmalaridernegi.org/tr/yayinlar/analizler/160-turkiye-yunanistan-sinirinda-neler-oldu

8. Retrieved 26 October 2020, from https://www.birgun.net/haber/taksi-sahipleri-dernegi-baskani-kolluk-yonlendirmesiyle-taksiciler-sinira-multeci-tasiyor-290272

9. Retrieved 19 October 2019, from https://yigm.ktb.gov.tr/TR-201111/sinir-istatistikleri.html

10. Retrieved 3 March 2022 from https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6t4o4p

11. This policy has been changed in September 2018. Now, all applications are lodged at the provincial offices of the PMM (formerly known as DGMM). Interview with an NGO director, August 2018.

12. Retrieved 4 October 2021, from http://www.izmir.gov.tr/idari-para-cezasi-uygulanmasina-valilik-karari

13. As of December 30^th, 2019, around 110,000 Syrian refugees (53,000 adults and 57,000 children) have been granted Turkish citizenship through the so-called ‘exceptional citizenship regulation’. Retrieved 25 December 2020, from https://multeciler.org.tr/turkiyedeki-suriyeli-sayisi/ The process is not transparent and criteria for citizenship are not made public.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mert Pekşen

Mert Pekşen is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS) at the University of Osnabrück. His research interests include borders, forced migration, spatial implications of changing migration control strategies, and legal and social inclusion/exclusion of urban migrant and refugee populations.