Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T08:46:44.607Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Syrian refugees in Turkey: from “guests” to “enemies”?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2016

Burcu Toğral Koca
Burcu Toğral Koca*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Eskişehir, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Since the war erupted in Syria in 2011, Turkey has followed an “open door” policy toward Syrian refugees. The Turkish government has been promoting this liberal policy through a humanitarian discourse that leads one to expect that Syrian refugees have not been securitized in Turkey. This article, however, argues that a security framework that emphasizes control and containment has been essential to the governance of Syrian refugees in Turkey, despite the presence of such non-securitarian discourses. To develop this argument, the article first builds an analytical framework based on a critical engagement with the theory of securitization, which was originally developed by the Copenhagen School. Unlike the Copenhagen School’s theory emphasizing “speech acts” as the vector of securitization, this article applies a sociological approach to the analysis of the securitization process by focusing on both discursive and non-discursive practices. In carrying out this analysis, securitizing practices, both discursive and non-discursive, are defined as those that: (1) emphasize “control and containment,” especially in relation to societal/public security concerns (here, specifically, the labor market and employment); and (2) establish a security continuum about various other issues—including criminality, terrorism, socioeconomic problems, and cultural deprivation—and thereby treat migrants as “risky” outsiders. Subsequently, in line with this analytical framework, the article seeks to trace the securitization of non-camp Syrian refugees, especially in the labor market. Finally, the article demonstrates that this securitization process is likely to conceal structural and political problems, and to close off alternative public and political debate about the refugees.

Keywords

ImmigrationSyrian refugeesTurkeysecuritizationlabor market
Type
Articles
Information
New Perspectives on Turkey , Volume 54: Special Issue on Precarious Lives and Syrian Refugees in Turkey , May 2016 , pp. 55 - 75
Copyright
© New Perspectives on Turkey and Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Afet ve Acil Durum Yönetimi Başkanlığı. “Barınma Merkezlerinde Son Durum.” https://www.afad.gov.tr/tr/IcerikDetay1.aspx?ID=16&IcerikID=848.Google Scholar
Akdeniz, Ercüment. Suriye Savaşının Gölgesinde Mülteci İşçiler. İstanbul: Evrensel, 2014.Google Scholar
Amnesty International. Struggling to Survive: Refugees from Syria in Turkey. London: Amnesty International, 2014. https://www.amnesty.de/files/2014-11-20_Final_report_Struggling_to_Survive.pdf.Google Scholar
“Antalya Governor’s Office Orders Syrian Refugees to Leave Province.” Today’s Zaman (December 24, 2014). http://www.todayszaman.com/anasayfa_antalya-governors-office-orders-syrian-refugees-to-leave-province_367929.html.Google Scholar
Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants. “The Temporary Protection Directive Has Been Published.” http://www.sgdd.org.tr/en/The-Temporary-Protection-Directive-has-been-published-i74.Google Scholar
Balzacq, Thierry. “The Policy Tools of Securitization: Information Exchange, EU Foreign and Interior Policies.” Journal of Common Market Studies 46, no. 1 (January 2008): 75–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balzacq, Thierry, Başaran, Tuğba, Bigo, Didier, Guittet, Emmanuel-Pierre, and Olsson, Christian. “Security Practices.” In The International Studies Encyclopedia Online. Edited by Robert A. Denemark Blackwell Publishing, March 18, 2010. doi: 10.1111/b.9781444336597.2010.x.Google Scholar
Bauman, Zygmunt. Liquid Times: Living in an Age of Uncertainty. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Bigo, Didier. “When Two Become One: Internal and External Securitizations in Europe.” In International Relations Theory and the Politics of European Integration: Power, Security and the Community . Edited by Morten Kelstrup. London: Routledge, 2000. 203–241.Google Scholar
Bigo, Didier. “Security and Immigration: Toward a Critique of the Governmentality of Unease.” Alternatives 27, no. 1 (2002): 63–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bigo, Didier and Tsoukala, Anastassia. Illiberal Practices of Liberal Regimes. Paris: L’Harmattan, 2006.Google Scholar
Buzan, Barry, Wæver, Ole, and de Wilde, Jaap. Security: A New Framework for Analysis. Boulder: Lynee Rienner, 1998.Google Scholar
Dinçer, Osman Bahadır, Federici, Vittoria, Ferris, Elizabeth, Karaca, Sema, Kirişci, Kemal, and Çarmıklı, Elif Özmenek. “Turkey and Syrian Refugees: The Limits of Hospitality.” The Brookings Institution (November 2013). http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/reports/2013/11/18-syria-turkey-refugees/turkey-and-syrian-refugees_the-limits-of-hospitality-%282014%29.pdf.Google Scholar
Durukan, Oktay. “Turkey’s Refugee Policy and Practices from the Civil Society Perspective.” In Refugee-Asylum Seeker Policy in Turkey in the Light of Recent Developments: Workshop Proceedings (Ankara, April 25, 2013). Edited by Engin Akçay and Farkhad Alimukahmedov. The Journalists and Writers Foundation Press, 2013. 29–35.Google Scholar
Erdoğan, Emre. “Unwanted, Unwelcome: Anti-Immigration Attitudes in Turkey.” The German Marshall Fund of the United States (September 10, 2014). http://www.gmfus.org/file/3491/download.Google Scholar
Erdoğan, Murat. “Syrians in Turkey: Social Acceptance and Integration.” Hacettepe Üniversitesi Göç ve Siyaset Araştırmaları Merkezi (November 2014). http://www.hugo.hacettepe.edu.tr/HUGO-REPORT-SyriansinTurkey.pdf.Google Scholar
Fair Labor Association. “‘Participation of Foreigners in the Turkish Labor Market Under the Temporary Protection Act’ Roundtable – Summary & Outcomes Report.” http://www.fairlabor.org/sites/default/files/documents/reports/march-2015-fla-eti-roundtable-syrian-refugees.pdf.Google Scholar
“Gaziantep governor: Syrian refugees creating unfair competition.” Today’s Zaman (July 18, 2014). http://www.todayszaman.com/national_gaziantep-governor-syrian-refugees-creating-unfair-competition_353438.html.Google Scholar
Güçtürk, Yavuz. The Loss of Humanity: The Human Rights Dimension of the Civil War in Syria. Translated by Handan Öz and Gülgün Köse. İstanbul: SETA, 2014.Google Scholar
Huysmans, Jef. The Politics of Insecurity: Fear, Migration and Asylum in the EU. London and New York: Routledge, 2006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
International Crisis Group. “Blurring the Borders: Syrian Spillover Risks for Turkey.” Europe Report No. 225 (April 30, 2013). http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/europe/turkey-cyprus/turkey/225-blurring-the-borders-syrian-spillover-risks-for-turkey.pdf.Google Scholar
International Labour Organization. “The ILO Response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis (February 2016 Update).” http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---exrel/documents/publication/wcms_357159.pdf.Google Scholar
Kılıç, Taner. “The Role of Civil Society in the Field of Asylum, Situation in the Satellite Cities and Syrian Refugees in Turkey.” In Refugee-Asylum Seeker Policy in Turkey in the Light of Recent Developments: Workshop Proceedings. (Ankara, April 25, 2013). Edited by Engin Akçay and Farkhad Alimukahmedov. The Journalists and Writers Foundation Press, 2013. 81–91.Google Scholar
Kirişci, Kemal. “Turkey: A Transformation from Emigration to Immigration.” Migration Policy Institute Profile (November 1, 2003). http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/turkey-transformation-emigration-immigration.Google Scholar
Kirişci, Kemal. “Syrian Refugees and Turkey’s Challenges: Going beyond Hospitality.” The Brookings Institution (May 2014). http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/reports/2014/05/12-turkey-syrian-refugees-kirisci/syrian-refugees-and-turkeys-challenges-may-14-2014.pdf.Google Scholar
Leonard, Sarah. “Studying Migration as a Security Issue: Conceptual and Methodological Challenges.” Paper presented at the SGIR Fifth Pan-European International Conference, The Hague, September 9–10, 2004.Google Scholar
Leonard, Sarah. “EU Border Security and Migration into the European Union: FRONTEX and Securitisation Through Practices.” European Security 19, no. 2 (2010): 231–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orhun, Oytun and Gündoğar, Sabiha Şenyücel. “Effects of the Syrian Refugees on Turkey.” Ortadoğu Stratejik Araştırmalar Merkezi, Report No: 195 (January 2015). http://www.orsam.org.tr/en/enUploads/Article/Files/201518_rapor195ing.pdf.Google Scholar
Özden, Şenay. “Syrian Refugees in Turkey.” Migration Policy Centre (MPC), MPC Research Report 2013/05. http://www.migrationpolicycentre.eu/docs/MPC-RR-2013-05.pdf.Google Scholar
“Syrian refugees attacked, urged to leave in Antalya.” Hürriyet Daily News (December 24, 2014). http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/syrian-refugees-attacked-urged-to-leave-in-antalya.aspx?pageID=549&nID=76056&NewsCatID=341.Google Scholar
Şimşek, Doğuş. “Anti-Syrian racism in Turkey.” openDemocracy. https://www.opendemocracy.net/arab-awakening/dogus-simsek/antisyrian-racism-in-turkey.Google Scholar
“Temporary Protection Regulation.” http://www.goc.gov.tr/files/_dokuman28.pdf.Google Scholar
Toğral Koca, Burcu. “Deconstructing Turkey’s ‘Open Door’ Policy towards Refugees from Syria.” Migration Letters 12, no. 3 (2015): 209–225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
“Turkish Textile Sector Eyes Bangladeshi Workers.” Hürriyet Daily News (October 18, 2014). http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-textile-sector-eyes-bangladeshi-workers-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=73131&NewsCatID=347.Google Scholar
“Türk İş Başkanı’ndan İşsizlik Çıkışı.” Doğan Haber Ajansı (October 13, 2014). http://www.dha.com.tr/turk-is-baskanindan-issizlik-cikisi_778485.html.Google Scholar
United Nations High, Commissioner for Refugees. “Syria Regional Refugee Response.” http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/country.php?id=224.Google Scholar
United Nations High, Commissioner for Refugees. 2014 Syria Regional Response Plan: Strategic Overview Mid-Year Update. http://www.unhcr.org/syriarrp6/midyear/docs/syria-rrp6-myu-strategic-overview.pdf.Google Scholar
Yeğinsu, Ceylan. “Turkey Strengthens Rights of Syrian Refugees.” The New York Times (December 29, 2014). http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/30/world/europe/turkey-strengthens-rights-of-syrian-refugees.html?_r=0.Google Scholar