Göç Politikası / Immigration Policy

The Syrian war created an unprecedented situation in Turkey. In the space of three short years, two million Syrian refugees arrived. Turkey never before witnessed such a large influx of people. The fact that Syrian immigration has not led to a moral panic in Turkey, and has in fact not even become a particularly salient issue in domestic politics, is remarkable. This report presents a description and a critical analysis of Turkey’s reaction to Syrian immigration.

2016

Contents of Turkish Migration Policy book.

Although some features of welfare states are eroded away under the pressure of intense global competition and financial difficulties, they still give opportunities to their citizens which even cannot be dreamt of by people of undeveloped world. Thus, numerous people in undeveloped countries are dreaming of being a part of such a system and exploiting them as much as they can. However, the welfare systems are usually self-sufficient and there is either very little or no room for outsiders who may harm the order. The system is supported by huge budgets which are based largely on taxes of the citizens and the citizens tolerate this in expectation of benefiting from the system not helping the foreigners who had never paid and most probably will never pay for the system. Therefore, the European governments seek to prevent illegal immigration, in other words, the infiltration to their welfare states. Turkey is in the middle of the routes of illegal immigration and thus seemed as a key actor in solving the problem. However, there has been a considerable inconsistency between Turkish and European legislation on this issue and the EU forces Turkey to make change in its legislation and implement them immediately at least for reducing the immigration flow passing through Turkey. In this paper the inconsistency between the legislations of both parties and the legislative change in Turkish Illegal Immigration and Asylum policy will be examined. The method of this research will be assessing the relevant parts of the EU documents, i.e. progress reports, national programs and Accession Partnerships, and comparing the legislative documents of the EU and Turkey on Illegal Immigration and Asylum and thus determine the alteration in Turkish legislation under the influence of the EU. Bazı özellikleri yoğun global rekabet ve finansal sorunlar nedeniyle aşınmış da olsa refah devletleri vatandaşlarına hala gelişmemiş dünyanın insanları için hayal dahi edilemeyecek fırsatlar sunuyor. Böylelikle gelişmemiş ülkelerdeki insanlar böyle bir sistemin parçası olmayı ve faydalanabildikleri kadar bu sistemden faydalanmayı hayal ediyorlar. Ancak refah sistemleri çoğunlukla kendi kendilerine yetmek üzere tasarlanmışlar, dışarıdan gelenler için çok az yere sahiptirler ve büyük bütçelerle desteklenmişlerdir ki bunlar da ağırlıklı olarak vatandaşlardan kesilen vergilere dayanırlar. Vatandaşlar da bu durumu kendilerinin sistemden yararlanacağı beklentisi ile tolere ederler sisteme hiçbir katkısı olmamış ve muhtemelen hiçbir zaman da olmayacak yabancıları desteklemek için değil. Bu yüzden Avrupa hükümetleri illegal göçleri veya bir başka deyişle, refah devletlerine sızmaları engelleyecek yollar aramaktadırlar. Türkiye illegal göç rotasının ortasındadır ve dolayısıyla bu sorunun çözümünde önemli bir aktör olarak görünmektedir. Ancak, Türkiye ve AB'nin illegal göç ve iltica mevzuatında dikkate değer bir tutarsızlık bulunmakta ve AB Türkiye'ye mevzuat değişikliği ve yapılan değişikliklerin hemen uygulanarak en azından Türkiye üzerinden geçen illegal göç akımında bir azalma gerçekleşmesi yönünde baskı yapmaktadır. Bu çalışmada her iki tarafın mevzuatı arasındaki tutarsızlıklar ve Türkiye'nin illegal göç ve iltica ile ilgili politikasındaki yasal değişiklikler incelenecektir. Bu araştırmanın yöntemi ise, Avrupa Birliği dokümanlarının ilgili bölümlerini incelemek (ilerleme raporları, katılım ortaklığı belgeleri, ulusal raporlar) ve Türk ve AB mevzuatını karşılaştırıp Türk mevzuatında AB etkisiyle yapılan değişiklikleri tespit etmek olacaktır.

2021

Turkey has always been a country of migration. The population movements from rural to urban which started in the 1950s have continued; migration to European countries began in the 1960s in the form of labour migration and was followed by various forms of commercial migration. Thus since the early 1990s, Turkey has also been experiencing in-flows of transit migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers, diverse forms of irregular migration and increasing number of foreign residents. Turkey has now become both a country of emigration and immigration (İçduygu & Kirişçi, 2009; Erdoğan & Kaya, 2015). This overview generally considers existing national policies, although the province of Karacabey, Bursa is the selected MATILDE region. Considering the highly centralized governance in Turkey, any separate urban-rural/mountain linkages with the national policies is hard to be raised at this level.

Although Turkey has been an important immigration and asylum country (see Kale, 2005; Kaya, 2009, 2012; Kirisci, 1996, 2002, 2003, 2007) as well as a transit county (Sahin-Mencutek, 2012) in the region, the legal infrastructure to deal with the migration subject has been somewhat poor . This field has been governed by piecemeal legislations, and this lack of primary legislation, which covers both rights and responsibilities has been indicated as one of the reasons for decreasing the level of protection given to refugees and asylum seekers (Amnesty International, 2009). When we come to 2011, it is possible to see a remarkable development in the field of asylum seekers, although negotiations with the EU remained in deadlock. In 2011, The Law on Foreigners and International Protection in Turkey (No. 6458) was drafted and it was approved by Parliament on 4 April 2013. This was an innovative movement in the history of Turkish migration policies because it was the first comprehensive law to cover both foreigners and those who need international protection.

The new Turkish legislation (Law no.6458) regarding immigration and immigrants in Turkey was approved in the parliament in April 2013 and published in 4th of April. Turkey has been an immigration destination for an increasing number of people in the last decade or so. Therefore the need for a new com-prehensive legislation was obvious. Following a relatively lengthy period of consultations, the new law came into force. In this study, we particularly focus on the implications of this new law for the protection of individuals from a human insecurity perspective and the deportation of apprehended immigrants and refused asylum seekers. A unified system proposed by the new law along with the newly created General Directorate of Migration is a step in the right direction. Thus, a harmonised effort in line with international human rights standards regarding the deportation issue can be expected. The deportation is restructured by the new law. The new law is drawing upon -often best- practices around the world and not solely based on the practice and experience in Turkey. Hence, the overall attitude is positive and human-itarian. This is evident in various aspects of the law. The new legislation supports the individuals who are accommodated in deportation centres by offering free legal aid to those in need as such is available for Turkish citizens. The detention peri-ods for the deportees are vaguely defined in many European countries. However the new law in Turkey clearly sets this period as up to 6 months. These clearer procedures are in line with interna-tional law. Similarly, in the new law, also a rather decentralised governance is proposed which is again very positive for addressing needs and wants of immigrants/deportees in different re-gions of the country without resorting to lengthy and cumbersome bureaucratic procedures.

Turkey has developed into the sending, transiting and receiving position in regard of migration throughout the republic’s history. These characteristics have differed from time to time depending on the global migration trends. In the early period of the republic, ethnic concerns became the main influence of the policies. Like the other contemporary nation states, Turkey used migration as an instrument of “homogenization” and building the nation-state (Kirişçi, 2007; Erder, 2007, p:6). İskan Kanunu (settlement law), issued in 1934, is important to show a typical policy of the early period. Turkey maintained the iskân kanunu and was in force until recently. The iskan kanunu deteremined that only the Turks or people of Turkic origins including the Muslims coming from the ex-territories of the Ottoman Empire were accepted as an “immigrant”

Migration-relevant policies in Turkey, 2023

Publication information This work is licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY NC 4.0 License. You are free to share and adapt the material if you include proper attribution (see suggested citation), indicate if changes were made, and do not use or adapt the material in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. You may not use the material for commercial purposes.

2011

"Economic globalization, poverty, and ethnic conflicts around the world have increased the number of people fleeing persecution. Some of these migratory flows headed to Europe through illegal means such as smugglers and illegal border crossings. This made the distinction between irregular migrants and asylum seekers blurry. As European states formulated solutions for the problem of unwanted flows, the international protection provided to asylum seekers was loosened for the sake of national security. In fact, the short history of migration in the European context shows that asylum was never seen as a problem as long as it was consistent with national interests. When the European Union member states initiated a policy towards common immigration and asylum standards for Europe, control tools and prevention mechanisms were prioritized against the refugee protection. Due to abolishing the internal borders and having common external borders for Europe, attention was directed to neighbouring countries and their asylum and immigration practices. This paper will focus on the development of common immigration and asylum policy for the EU and its effects on third countries with a special emphasis on Turkey."