The Case of Iraqi and Syrian Refugee Flows
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Turkey’s Refugee Regime Stretched to the Limit? The Case of Iraqi and Syrian Refugee Flows Suna Gülfer IHLAMUR-ÖNER* Abstract Turkey has long been a land of asylum due to and global agency. These two crises also reveal its geographical location as well as shared social, the need for a substantial change and update in cultural and historical ties with the Balkans, the Turkish refugee regime that is long overdue. the Caucasus, Europe, and the Middle East. Since the 1980s, the influx of refugees and irregular and transit migrations to Turkey, Key Words particularly from the Middle East but also from Africa and Asia, have intensified. In Turkish refugee and asylum regime, 1988 and 1991 Turkey was confronted with Iraqi Kurdish refugees, Syrian refugees, the Iraqi Kurdish refugee flows, and since the onset and intensification of violence in Syria safe haven, no-fly zone, Turkish foreign from 2011 onwards, Turkey is trying to cope policy. with a growing number of refugees with its temporary protection regime. The solution Turkey opted for in both crises is the same: Introduction creation of no-fly zones and safe havens for refugees outside of Turkish territory and inside Turkey has long been a land of asylum, the refugees’ country of origin, which has been particularly for refugee flows from the implemented in the Iraqi case but has yet to Balkans, since its inception in 1923. find international support in the Syrian case. These two cases are significant, as they reflect Since the 1980s the influx of refugees the complex shifting nature of the refugee crises and irregular and transit migrations to and relief efforts in the post-Cold War era, Turkey, particularly from the Middle and present important challenges for Turkish East but also from Africa and Asia, have policymakers of foreign and refugee policies, particularly in formulating a new refugee and intensified. In 1988 and 1991 Turkey asylum policy that is in line with Turkey’s new had to deal with the Iraqi Kurdish refugee foreign policy vision and its emerging regional flows. The 1991 refugee flow, when more than one and a half million Iraqi * Assistant Professor in the Department of Kurds were amassed by the mountains Political Science and International Relations at bordering Turkey, Iraq, and Iran, was the Marmara University in Istanbul, Turkey. 191 PERCEPTIONS, Autumn 2013, Volume XVIII, Number 3, pp. 191-228. Suna Gülfer Ihlamur-Öner biggest refugee crisis in recent memory,1 charged strategic space, and has been and Turkey opened its border to around and will be home to refugee flows in the half a million Iraqi Kurds. Today, due to region. Turkey, taking account of shifts the onset and intensification of violence in the international refuge regime, and in Syria since early 2011, Turkey is trying the high propensity of regional crises to to cope with another refugee influx from produce new refugee flows that target its Syria. The number of Syrian refugees has territory, must cast aside its reactive and currently reached half a million2 and is strained refugee and asylum policy, and expected to grow given the escalation proactively develop a new refugee regime of violence in Syria, which will further in accordance with its new regional strain Turkey’s already overburdened policy, global agency and humanitarian refugee and asylum regime. These two diplomacy. cases – influx of Iraqi Kurds and Syrian refugees- are significant, as they reflect Turkey has long been a land of the complex shifting nature of the refugee asylum due to its geographical crises and relief efforts in the post- location as well as shared social, Cold War era, and present important cultural and historical ties with challenges for Turkish policymakers, the Balkans, the Caucasus, particularly in formulating a new refugee Europe, and the Middle East. and asylum policy that is in line with Turkey’s new foreign policy vision, as well as its emerging regional and global This paper evaluates Turkey’s response agency. Even if there are significant to these two refugee crises and the differences in terms of Turkey’s and other impact of these flows on the Turkish international actors’ stances towards the refugee regime. The paper is divided two crises, the solution Turkey suggested into five sections. The first section for both crises is the same: creation puts forward the main outlines of the of no-fly zones and safe havens for Turkish refugee and asylum regime refugees outside of Turkish territory and by highlighting its continuities and inside the refugees’ country of origin. changes. The second section provides However, Turkey at the crossroads of a description of the influx of the Iraqi the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and its Kurds into Turkey in 1988 and 1991, hinterland, the Balkans, the Caucasus, and briefly discusses the evolution of the the Middle East and North Africa, is international refugee regime in the post- situated in a historically and culturally Cold War era as well as the changes in 192 Turkey’s Refugee Regime Stretched to the Limit? the Turkish refugee regime following the basic outlines of the Turkish asylum Iraqi Kurdish refugee influxes. The third regime. The first one is the 1934 Law on section covers the evolution of the Syrian Settlement (İskân Kanunu), regulating crisis, and the influx of Syrian refugees rules for entry, settlement and application to Turkey since 2011 up to the present for refugee status.3 This law is indicative day, and in three subsections evaluates of the important role that migration the experiences of refugees staying in and asylum played in the Turkish and out of camps, and the combatants of nation-building process following the the Free Syrian Army (FSA). The fourth disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. section discusses, compares and evaluates The Law does not allow the settlement Turkey’s and, to a limited extent, other of those that do not belong to ‘Turkish international actors’ descent and culture’ response to the Even if there are significant (Türk soyu ve kültürü) two crises. The and authorises differences in terms of Turkey’s concluding section the Council of and other international actors’ gives a concise Ministers to decide stances towards the two crises, analysis of the impact who qualifies for the solution Turkey suggested of and challenges settlement and for both crises is the same: posed by the major Turkish citizenship. creation of no-fly zones and safe refugee influxes on Within the the Turkish asylum havens for refugees outside of framework of this regime, which Turkish territory and inside the law, people from underscores the need refugees’ country of origin. Turkish speaking for a long overdue communities in substantial change the Balkans as well as the Muslim and update of the Turkish refugee regime. communities, such as Albanians, Bosnians, Circassians, Pomaks, and Turkey’s Two-Tiered Asylum Tatars were allowed to settle in Turkey, Regime in the belief and expectation that they could easily assimilate into Turkish Up to the present day, Turkey has identity.4 The new law on settlement preferred to deal with refugee influxes (The Law No. 5543) passed in 2006 did with pieces of legislation, rather than a not transform the traditional admission single fully-fledged law. Two important policy. According to Article 4 of this new legal documents have determined the law, those who do not belong to Turkish 193 Suna Gülfer Ihlamur-Öner descent and culture are not eligible for adopted during the Cold War years, settlement.5 Based on this law, from were in compliance with Turkey’s role 1923 to 1997, more than 1.6 million as a NATO member neighbouring the people immigrated to Turkey, mostly Soviet Bloc countries, and based on these from the Balkan countries.6 Turkey accepted asylum-seekers fleeing persecution under the communist regimes (around 13,500 between 1970 The influx of refugees was a to 1989). However, the majority of the major foreign policy challenge Convention refugees were resettled in for Turkey, as it tried to follow third countries in line with the 1934 a cautious policy amidst the Law on Settlement,8 while the members growing tension between Iraq of the Turkish minority fleeing political and the U.S. and due to the and religious persecution in communist escalation of conflict between Bulgaria were granted the right to settle in the Turkish security forces and Turkey or acquire citizenship. Therefore, the PKK in the region. despite the significant changes in Turkey’s refugee policy after it signed the The second key legal document that 1951 Convention, one thing remained has shaped Turkey’s asylum regime is the constant throughout the Cold War years 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the and afterwards: non-acceptance of those Status of Refugees. Turkey was among who do not belong to Turkish descent 9 the original drafters and signatories of and culture. the Convention. Turkey is also a party The second tier of Turkey’s asylum to the 1967 Protocol, which replaced the policy, which deals with non-Convention geographical and time limitations from refugees, was developed as a response to the Convention with a geographical growing refugee influxes due to wars, limitation alone.7 Therefore, Turkey has a ethnic strife and political instability in two-tiered asylum policy, which makes a the Middle East, Africa and South-East distinction between the Convention and Asia since the early 1980s. Following the non-Convention refugees. This means Iranian Revolution in 1979, around 1.5 that Turkey does not grant refugee status million Iranians have arrived in Turkey. to asylum-seekers coming from outside The Iran-Iraq War, which lasted eight Europe, who are therefore subject to years, led to further flows.