Book Chapters by Ahmet Icduygu
Undoubtedly, migrant smuggling in Turkey is closely associated with irregular migra on issues. As... more Undoubtedly, migrant smuggling in Turkey is closely associated with irregular migra on issues. As seen in other parts of the world, one reason for this connota on is that mixed ows of migrants are involved in migrant smuggling in the region. These migrants are as follows: (a) transit migrants who enter the country usually from South Asia, Africa and Middle East with the inten on of using Turkey as a springboard to migrate to another country in the West, mostly in Europe; (b) irregular economic migrants who come to Turkey with the objec ve of living and working without valid documents; and (c) asylum seekers who are stranded in the country longer than they expected and rejected cases who are not accepted as refugees.
Reconciling Cultural and Political Identities in a Globalized World: Perspectives on Australia-Tu... more Reconciling Cultural and Political Identities in a Globalized World: Perspectives on Australia-Turkey Relations (Edited by Michális Michael)
Though geographically apart, Turkey and Australia are much closer than many would think. In forging their cultural and political identities, both countries have sought to reconcile their history with their geography. On the occasion of the Gallipoli centenary, the different and shared paths of these two countries are ready for examination. This study features their important interactions, through both conflict and migration, from the Gallipoli landing to the present day. It addresses key foreign policy concerns – such as the relationship with the United States – and domestic politics. Turkey is still wrestling with the legacy of its Ottoman past, including the status of ethnic and religious minorities, as well as tensions between secular modernity and Islamic religiosity. Australia too is grappling with its own ethnic and religious diversity, and particular its Muslim communities, of which the Turks are one of the oldest. This collection provides a relevant, comparative and comprehensive study of two countries seeking to reconcile their history with their geography.
Turkey's policies on international migration and migrants, concerning both inflows and
outflows,... more Turkey's policies on international migration and migrants, concerning both inflows and
outflows, have undergone a great transformation since the early 1990s. 1 This process
includes a variety of changes in the administrative and legislative arrangements in the
country: from dual citizenship policies to diaspora politics, from asylum regimes to visa
regulations, from work permits for foreigners to new border management. This process has
been greatly affected by the country's relations with the European Union (EU) and its ...
Borders and international mobility have become dominant themes in studies on
contemporary global... more Borders and international mobility have become dominant themes in studies on
contemporary global processes, yet relatively little has been said about the various
dimensions of their interaction in international relations. This chapter intends to fill the gap
by exploring twin issues: the crucial political dimensions attached to international migration
and, often overlooked, the serious challenge border crossings pose to the states involved. In
other words, the diplomatic and symbolic dimensions of international migration affect inter- ...
Social Transformation and Migration National and Local Experiences in South Korea, Turkey, Mexico and Australia, Stephen Castles, Derya Ozkul, Magdalena Cubas (Eds.), Mar 2015
This volume collects ten essays that look at intra-regional migration in the Southern Balkans fro... more This volume collects ten essays that look at intra-regional migration in the Southern Balkans from the late Ottoman period to the present. It examines forced as well as
voluntary migrations and places these movements within their historical context, including ethnic cleansing, population exchanges, and demographic engineering in
the service of nation-building as well as more recent labor migration due to globalization. Inside, readers will find the work of international experts that cuts across national
and disciplinary lines. This cross-cultural, comparative approach fully captures the complexity of this highly fractured, yet interconnected, region. Coverage explores
the role of population exchanges in the process of nation-building and irredentist policies in interwar Bulgaria, the story of Thracian refugees and their organizations
in Bulgaria, the changing waves of migration from the Balkans to Turkey, Albanian immigrants in Greece, and the diminished importance of ethnic migration after the 1990s. In addition, the collection looks at such under-researched aspects of migration as memory, gender, and religion.
The field of migration studies in the Southern Balkans is still fragmented along national and disciplinary lines. Moreover, the study of forced and voluntary migrations is often separate with few interconnections. The essays collected in this book bring these different traditions together. This complete portrait will help readers gain deep insight and better understanding into the diverse migration flows and
intercultural exchanges that have occurred in the Southern Balkans in the last two centuries.
Critical Reflections in Migration Research, 2015
SSCI-AHCI Articles by Ahmet Icduygu
JOURNAL OF MIGRATION AND ETHNIC STUDIES, 2020
Mostly embedded in the debates on irregular migration, the first-generation migrant smuggling res... more Mostly embedded in the debates on irregular migration, the first-generation migrant smuggling research, which developed in the 1990s, has long been limited by its conventional state-centric criminality-based focus. This article, inspired by the second and most recent generation of scholarly research on the issue, over the last decade, offers new thoughts and empirical perspectives for transcending those limitations. The second generation of migrant smuggling research is an attempt at decentring for a better understanding and framing of migrant smuggling that arose from critiques of the first-generation studies. This critical perspective challenges the dominant accounts and moves scholarship on the issue toward an examination of the discursive and legal processes of states that criminalise migrant smuggling, highlighting the significance of understanding the perceptions and experiences of a wide range of actors. Drawing on the findings of fieldwork conducted in Turkey and its neighbourhood over the last 20 years, this article critically assesses and decentres the current state of knowledge about migrant smuggling in Europe’s south-eastern periphery. The study finds that migrant smuggling is highly complex because of its embeddedness in socio-institutional and transnational environments, which constantly affect both migrants’ and smugglers’ risk perceptions and coping strategies, causing incredibly dynamic migration trajectories.
Migration Studies, 2020
Amid the epistemic divide about what social cohesion means as a foundational concept, the pursuit... more Amid the epistemic divide about what social cohesion means as a foundational concept, the pursuit of social integration as a policy objective is more desirable than ever among policy makers. While scholarly debates seek to restore conceptual clarity for social cohesion and social integration separately, referring to them interchangeably in policy reports seems to go conveniently unnoticed across different migration contexts. This study seeks answers to the question: How does the concept of social cohesion manifest itself in forced migration contexts? It does so by first reviewing the state-of-the art on social cohesion-forced migration nexus to identify the recurring themes and substitute concepts in the literature. Second, based on an in-depth textual analysis of 327 scholarly articles and policy reports on the theme of forcibly displaced in Turkey published between 2011 and 2018, this study presents a classification of conceptual frames on social cohesion in forced migration contexts as security-threat based, humanitarian-emergency driven, policy-regime oriented and socio-interactional. One of the main findings is that the existing social cohesion models of the settlement countries do not explain what has been unfolding in Turkey in the post-2011 period with the mass influx of the forcibly displaced and ongoing conflict at its borders. The study concludes with a discussion on why integrating policy-regime oriented and socio-interactional approaches are more likely to advance both the quest for conceptual clarity around social cohesion as well as facilitate the design of actionable policies in protracted large-scale displacement contexts.
Although the Syrian conflict continues, local and global stakeholders have already begun to consi... more Although the Syrian conflict continues, local and global stakeholders have already begun to consider the return of the six million refugees, especially as neither the option of local integration in the countries of first asylum nor that of resettlement to third countries is seen as a realistic possibility. Elaborating on the return debates in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, we relate the politicisation of this question to the growing acceptance of the option of voluntary and involuntary repatriation in the international refugee regime as well as to policies and public opinion. We argue, based on empirical fieldwork, that any debate about the return of Syrian refugees is problematic, since the conditions of safety, voluntariness and sustainability are not fulfilled. Further, returns should not be left entirely to the individual hosting states and actors in the region but should be carried out in collaboration with representative authorities in Syria and the mediation of international organisations upon full resolution of conflict.
This paper aims to investigate the Afghan-Turkish-European region migration system in light of mi... more This paper aims to investigate the Afghan-Turkish-European region migration system in light of migration system theory, which provides a comprehensive framework by asking the question of how a set of linkages including some macro-, meso-and micro-level variables relate to the larger context of migratory settings. Relating the roles of various structures, institutions and networks to the operation of the social, political and economic relationships, it seeks to analyze the dynamics of Afghan migration heading to Turkey and Europe in a historically contextualized way. The paper argues that one must focus on the root causes of flows, which are related to the presence of fragility of the Afghan state together with the continuation of flows via networks enabling the maintenance of migrants' links to home, transit and destination countries.
Published in Turkish Studies, 2018, see:
https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2018.1454317
abstract Refugee protection and humanitarianism have evolved hand in hand in the post-World War 2... more abstract Refugee protection and humanitarianism have evolved hand in hand in the post-World War 2 era despite shortcomings. Since the 1980s however, we have witnessed a weakening of the international protection regime and a restrictive and securitised approach to asylum. The current situation of Syrian refugees has revealed that the international protection system falls short of efficiently responding to protracted refugees situations. In the context of selective and declining humanitarianism, our analysis moves from the international context to the national context to demonstrate how government officials legitimise receiving mass numbers of refugee. This article scrutinises the political discourse of refugee reception in Turkey and Germany as two countries receiving a high number of refugees. Through analysis of political statements in both countries between 2011 and 2016, we explore how international humanitarianism has taken different shapes in the discourse of government officials. Our findings reveal the general trend that humanitarianism in the case of refugee reception manifests itself selectively, reflecting not only humanitarian obligations stemming from international law but also political, cultural and economic priorities of governments.
Identified as effective and rapid mechanisms against irregular migration by the European Union, R... more Identified as effective and rapid mechanisms against irregular migration by the European Union, Readmission Agreements (ras) have become one of the major topics in current migration literature. Despite the extensity of the current literature on requesting states, the literature focusing on the requested states remains sparse. Considering that ‘it takes two to tango’ to agree on, to sign, and to implement the ras, it is very crucial to frame the positions of the requested states in the negotiation process of ras. This paper examines the tortuous negotiation process of the ra between the eu and Turkey over the last decade, by primarily focusing on the question of how Turkey, as a non-eu state, has viewed and experienced this process of negotiation.
Discussions of transit migration in Europe
and its peripheries are not simply descriptions
of an ... more Discussions of transit migration in Europe
and its peripheries are not simply descriptions
of an existing reality, but to some extent also a
part of the process of constructing that reality
in such a way that discursive practices enable
policy statements to conceptualise and talk
about this phenomenon. The main goal of this
paper is to explore this process through the
politicisation of transit migration in Europe,
with a particular focus on Turkey. The essay
fi rst documents the irregular and transit
migration experience of Turkey in the last
thirty years with the help of several data sets.
It particularly emphasises that there is a
reality of transit migration in Turkey, but that
there also exists other forms of irregular
labour migration.
His current research interests include the causes and consequences of international migration, th... more His current research interests include the causes and consequences of international migration, the social and demographic status of ethnic and racial minorities, and citizenship issues in relation with international migration and cultural diversity. He is currently writing a book (together with Fuat Keyman) on Post-National Citizenship.
The geographic region of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) comprises one of the most fascin... more The geographic region of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) comprises one of the most fascinating immigration regions of the world, hosting millions of migrants and receiving thousands of new migrants each year. While the panorama of MENA's immigration arena is extremely diverse, this article aims to investigate project-tied, or contract-based, labor migration from Turkey, which occurs mostly through the long-established work of Turkish companies that engage in various construction and service-sector businesses. Taking the analytical context of migration system theory into consideration, the main aim of this essay is twofold: while it attempts to document the dynamics and mechanisms of contract-based labor migration from Turkey to the MENA countries, it also intends to elaborate on research about migratory systems between Turkey and the MENA region, mainly referring to macro-level factors affecting the relevant migration system.
Because of the irregular migration flows and use of irregular labour in their
economies, most Med... more Because of the irregular migration flows and use of irregular labour in their
economies, most Mediterranean countries of southern Europe face administrative battles over
the issue of so-called migration management. The main aim of this article is to elaborate how
several countries of the northern Mediterranean Basin have experienced irregular migration
flows in the past decade. Particular attention is devoted to the process in which, when
economies are in need of labour, international labour flows might be inevitable even if the
related rhetoric and policies towards immigration are unsympathetic. This is debated here
over the triad of economy, mobility and ‘illegality’.
“How Do Smuggling and Trafficking Operate via Irregular Border-Crossings in the Middle East? Evidence from Fieldwork in Turkey,” International Migration, Vol. 40, No. 6, pp: 25-54, 2002, Nov 27, 2002
This article examines the effect that a poor structural context, what we term an" environment
of... more This article examines the effect that a poor structural context, what we term an" environment
of insecurity", has on the Kurdish ethnic nationalist mobilization in Turkey. The empirical
evidence for this analysis is based on data from the 1993 Turkish Demographic and Health
Survey [TDHS]. The data provide, to the best of our knowledge, the first reliable and
representative figures on the situation of Kurds in Turkey. Our key claim is that the Kurdish
population in Turkey is relatively much worse off than the Turkish population in the country
Within the politics of nationalism and nation-building, the emigration of
ethnic and religious mi... more Within the politics of nationalism and nation-building, the emigration of
ethnic and religious minorities, whether voluntary or involuntary, appears
to be a commonly occurring practice. After the collapse of the Ottoman
Empire in the early twentieth century, modern Turkey still carried the
legacy of a multi-ethnic, multi-religious diversity in which its Armenian,
Greek and Jewish communities had official minority status based upon
the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. However, throughout the twentieth century,
Turkey’s non-Muslim minority populations have undergone a mass
emigration experience in which thousands of their numbers have migrated
to various countries around the globe. While in the 1920s the population
of non-Muslims in the country was close to 3 per cent of the total, today
it has dropped to less than two per thousand. This article analyses the
emigration of non-Muslim people from Turkey and relates this movement
to the wider context of nation-building in the country.
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Book Chapters by Ahmet Icduygu
Though geographically apart, Turkey and Australia are much closer than many would think. In forging their cultural and political identities, both countries have sought to reconcile their history with their geography. On the occasion of the Gallipoli centenary, the different and shared paths of these two countries are ready for examination. This study features their important interactions, through both conflict and migration, from the Gallipoli landing to the present day. It addresses key foreign policy concerns – such as the relationship with the United States – and domestic politics. Turkey is still wrestling with the legacy of its Ottoman past, including the status of ethnic and religious minorities, as well as tensions between secular modernity and Islamic religiosity. Australia too is grappling with its own ethnic and religious diversity, and particular its Muslim communities, of which the Turks are one of the oldest. This collection provides a relevant, comparative and comprehensive study of two countries seeking to reconcile their history with their geography.
outflows, have undergone a great transformation since the early 1990s. 1 This process
includes a variety of changes in the administrative and legislative arrangements in the
country: from dual citizenship policies to diaspora politics, from asylum regimes to visa
regulations, from work permits for foreigners to new border management. This process has
been greatly affected by the country's relations with the European Union (EU) and its ...
contemporary global processes, yet relatively little has been said about the various
dimensions of their interaction in international relations. This chapter intends to fill the gap
by exploring twin issues: the crucial political dimensions attached to international migration
and, often overlooked, the serious challenge border crossings pose to the states involved. In
other words, the diplomatic and symbolic dimensions of international migration affect inter- ...
voluntary migrations and places these movements within their historical context, including ethnic cleansing, population exchanges, and demographic engineering in
the service of nation-building as well as more recent labor migration due to globalization. Inside, readers will find the work of international experts that cuts across national
and disciplinary lines. This cross-cultural, comparative approach fully captures the complexity of this highly fractured, yet interconnected, region. Coverage explores
the role of population exchanges in the process of nation-building and irredentist policies in interwar Bulgaria, the story of Thracian refugees and their organizations
in Bulgaria, the changing waves of migration from the Balkans to Turkey, Albanian immigrants in Greece, and the diminished importance of ethnic migration after the 1990s. In addition, the collection looks at such under-researched aspects of migration as memory, gender, and religion.
The field of migration studies in the Southern Balkans is still fragmented along national and disciplinary lines. Moreover, the study of forced and voluntary migrations is often separate with few interconnections. The essays collected in this book bring these different traditions together. This complete portrait will help readers gain deep insight and better understanding into the diverse migration flows and
intercultural exchanges that have occurred in the Southern Balkans in the last two centuries.
SSCI-AHCI Articles by Ahmet Icduygu
Published in Turkish Studies, 2018, see:
https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2018.1454317
and its peripheries are not simply descriptions
of an existing reality, but to some extent also a
part of the process of constructing that reality
in such a way that discursive practices enable
policy statements to conceptualise and talk
about this phenomenon. The main goal of this
paper is to explore this process through the
politicisation of transit migration in Europe,
with a particular focus on Turkey. The essay
fi rst documents the irregular and transit
migration experience of Turkey in the last
thirty years with the help of several data sets.
It particularly emphasises that there is a
reality of transit migration in Turkey, but that
there also exists other forms of irregular
labour migration.
economies, most Mediterranean countries of southern Europe face administrative battles over
the issue of so-called migration management. The main aim of this article is to elaborate how
several countries of the northern Mediterranean Basin have experienced irregular migration
flows in the past decade. Particular attention is devoted to the process in which, when
economies are in need of labour, international labour flows might be inevitable even if the
related rhetoric and policies towards immigration are unsympathetic. This is debated here
over the triad of economy, mobility and ‘illegality’.
of insecurity", has on the Kurdish ethnic nationalist mobilization in Turkey. The empirical
evidence for this analysis is based on data from the 1993 Turkish Demographic and Health
Survey [TDHS]. The data provide, to the best of our knowledge, the first reliable and
representative figures on the situation of Kurds in Turkey. Our key claim is that the Kurdish
population in Turkey is relatively much worse off than the Turkish population in the country
ethnic and religious minorities, whether voluntary or involuntary, appears
to be a commonly occurring practice. After the collapse of the Ottoman
Empire in the early twentieth century, modern Turkey still carried the
legacy of a multi-ethnic, multi-religious diversity in which its Armenian,
Greek and Jewish communities had official minority status based upon
the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. However, throughout the twentieth century,
Turkey’s non-Muslim minority populations have undergone a mass
emigration experience in which thousands of their numbers have migrated
to various countries around the globe. While in the 1920s the population
of non-Muslims in the country was close to 3 per cent of the total, today
it has dropped to less than two per thousand. This article analyses the
emigration of non-Muslim people from Turkey and relates this movement
to the wider context of nation-building in the country.
Though geographically apart, Turkey and Australia are much closer than many would think. In forging their cultural and political identities, both countries have sought to reconcile their history with their geography. On the occasion of the Gallipoli centenary, the different and shared paths of these two countries are ready for examination. This study features their important interactions, through both conflict and migration, from the Gallipoli landing to the present day. It addresses key foreign policy concerns – such as the relationship with the United States – and domestic politics. Turkey is still wrestling with the legacy of its Ottoman past, including the status of ethnic and religious minorities, as well as tensions between secular modernity and Islamic religiosity. Australia too is grappling with its own ethnic and religious diversity, and particular its Muslim communities, of which the Turks are one of the oldest. This collection provides a relevant, comparative and comprehensive study of two countries seeking to reconcile their history with their geography.
outflows, have undergone a great transformation since the early 1990s. 1 This process
includes a variety of changes in the administrative and legislative arrangements in the
country: from dual citizenship policies to diaspora politics, from asylum regimes to visa
regulations, from work permits for foreigners to new border management. This process has
been greatly affected by the country's relations with the European Union (EU) and its ...
contemporary global processes, yet relatively little has been said about the various
dimensions of their interaction in international relations. This chapter intends to fill the gap
by exploring twin issues: the crucial political dimensions attached to international migration
and, often overlooked, the serious challenge border crossings pose to the states involved. In
other words, the diplomatic and symbolic dimensions of international migration affect inter- ...
voluntary migrations and places these movements within their historical context, including ethnic cleansing, population exchanges, and demographic engineering in
the service of nation-building as well as more recent labor migration due to globalization. Inside, readers will find the work of international experts that cuts across national
and disciplinary lines. This cross-cultural, comparative approach fully captures the complexity of this highly fractured, yet interconnected, region. Coverage explores
the role of population exchanges in the process of nation-building and irredentist policies in interwar Bulgaria, the story of Thracian refugees and their organizations
in Bulgaria, the changing waves of migration from the Balkans to Turkey, Albanian immigrants in Greece, and the diminished importance of ethnic migration after the 1990s. In addition, the collection looks at such under-researched aspects of migration as memory, gender, and religion.
The field of migration studies in the Southern Balkans is still fragmented along national and disciplinary lines. Moreover, the study of forced and voluntary migrations is often separate with few interconnections. The essays collected in this book bring these different traditions together. This complete portrait will help readers gain deep insight and better understanding into the diverse migration flows and
intercultural exchanges that have occurred in the Southern Balkans in the last two centuries.
Published in Turkish Studies, 2018, see:
https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2018.1454317
and its peripheries are not simply descriptions
of an existing reality, but to some extent also a
part of the process of constructing that reality
in such a way that discursive practices enable
policy statements to conceptualise and talk
about this phenomenon. The main goal of this
paper is to explore this process through the
politicisation of transit migration in Europe,
with a particular focus on Turkey. The essay
fi rst documents the irregular and transit
migration experience of Turkey in the last
thirty years with the help of several data sets.
It particularly emphasises that there is a
reality of transit migration in Turkey, but that
there also exists other forms of irregular
labour migration.
economies, most Mediterranean countries of southern Europe face administrative battles over
the issue of so-called migration management. The main aim of this article is to elaborate how
several countries of the northern Mediterranean Basin have experienced irregular migration
flows in the past decade. Particular attention is devoted to the process in which, when
economies are in need of labour, international labour flows might be inevitable even if the
related rhetoric and policies towards immigration are unsympathetic. This is debated here
over the triad of economy, mobility and ‘illegality’.
of insecurity", has on the Kurdish ethnic nationalist mobilization in Turkey. The empirical
evidence for this analysis is based on data from the 1993 Turkish Demographic and Health
Survey [TDHS]. The data provide, to the best of our knowledge, the first reliable and
representative figures on the situation of Kurds in Turkey. Our key claim is that the Kurdish
population in Turkey is relatively much worse off than the Turkish population in the country
ethnic and religious minorities, whether voluntary or involuntary, appears
to be a commonly occurring practice. After the collapse of the Ottoman
Empire in the early twentieth century, modern Turkey still carried the
legacy of a multi-ethnic, multi-religious diversity in which its Armenian,
Greek and Jewish communities had official minority status based upon
the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. However, throughout the twentieth century,
Turkey’s non-Muslim minority populations have undergone a mass
emigration experience in which thousands of their numbers have migrated
to various countries around the globe. While in the 1920s the population
of non-Muslims in the country was close to 3 per cent of the total, today
it has dropped to less than two per thousand. This article analyses the
emigration of non-Muslim people from Turkey and relates this movement
to the wider context of nation-building in the country.
Egypt, Lebanon and Turkey, by utilising the results of a study conducted among civil
society actors. In recent decades, civil society has become integral to discussions
of political liberalisation. At the same time, there is a growing rift between
international democracy promotion through investment in civil society and the more
critical literature on the relationship between the two. This article makes three
contributions to these debates by comparing the actual experiences of civil society
actors. First, it argues that the boundaries between states and civil societies are
indeterminate, making it problematic to expect civil society organisations alone to
become catalysts for regime transformation. Second, it shows that expectations of
monolithic generation of civic values through civil society organisations do not
reflect the actual experience of actors in this realm. Finally, it argues for taking into
consideration other sources of mobilisation as potential contributors to meaningful
political and social transformation.
'minority'has traditionally been associated with those objective elements of citizenship,
common ethno-cultural and linguistic heritage, and of subjective elements including having
a sense of communal solidarity and willingness to preserve group-specific particularities. 1
In other words, minority peoples have indicated those sections of national citizens who
manifested ethno-cultural, linguistic and religious distinctions in respect of the mainstream ...
(1) How do stranded irregular migrant workers experience insecurities and uncertainties in their lives during the COVID-19 crisis?
(2) How and why do irregular migrants struggle with the repatriation process?
(3) How can the repatriation process be improved through multilevel cooperation for global migration governance?
as the conflict in Syria shows no sign of abating. Even if
the violence does subside, the country faces a destroyed
infrastructure, and the road back to the everyday life
many Syrians once knew seems ever more distant. This
means that Turkey as the major host country of Syrian
refugees must now develop practical actions towards
providing them with better settlement and integration
opportunities. Steps towards granting citizenship have
been hinted at by President Erdoğan, pointing to the fact
that Syrian refugees may share the same fate as other
cases of communities who have suffered from protracted
displacement, proceeding through stages of admission,
settlement, integration and naturalisation. However, the
far-reaching implications of the current crisis require
“responsibility sharing” on an international scale. A major
step forward has been the deal between the EU and
Turkey, but the stress of such a large number of refugees
on Turkey’s young legal system on immigration and
asylum, and limited resources, as well as the government’s
ability to follow its own procedures and live up to the
standards of a “safe third country” are now coming into
question on the international stage. This paper examines
these questions and refers to the paradoxical conditions
in Turkey that contemporaneously reflect the deeprooted
limitations of its existing protection capacity and
the emerging policies towards the integration of refugees.
opinions and governments in most countries. It is argued that caused by economic hardship or
political hardship or political unrest in countries of origin, it would threaten well-being and
identity in countries of destination, and sometimes endanger political security. However, on the
other hand, social scientists recognize that, being a part of the global circulation and global
integration, human mobility bears a tremendous potential for human progress. This view is
increasingly shared by several actors for which adequate policies could make migration a
genuine instrument for economic and social development. Therefore, the conditions under which,
and the mechanisms through which, migration can transform individual benefits into an
aggregated one, for the greater society, are to be studied. From this perspective, Turkey provides
us with an interesting case study; firstly because of its multiple migration roles as a country of
emigration, immigration and transit, over time; secondly because, this ongoing flows of
emigration and immigration involve various stages of a migration cycle; thirdly because, this
migration cycle reflects, both explicitly and implicitly, some gains, and occasionally loses, both
for the country and its people, migrants and non-migrants; and finally because of Turkey’s longestablished
EU-membership process which highlights various types of migration issues. This
report provides us with an overview of some aspects of migration-development nexus in the case
of Turkey.