International Migration Problem and Turkey

Modern Turkey has been intertwined with migration and asylum movements that took place in different ways in different periods since its establishment. The population of the Republic of Turkey has changed as a result of the population exchange and high numbers of kin migrations that took place in its early years. After the Second World War, Turkey, affected by the globalization and socio-economic changes that started all over the world, experienced international migrations. This situation continued to increase with the effects of Turkey's membership process to the European Union (EU). As in every country in the world, international migration and asylum issues come to the fore in Turkey with social, political and economic issues such as national identity, citizenship, security, labor market, unemployment, development, social cohesion, protection of borders, legality and illegality.

Migration movements in Turkey have developed in parallel with Turkey's modernization process, with developments at social, economic and political levels. The population exchange between Greece and Turkey, in the sense that the non-Muslim population left Turkey, affected the Turkish and Muslim populations in neighboring countries and encouraged their migration to Turkey. Effective implementation of the Settlement Law of 1934 until 2006 is very important in Turkey's nation-state process and migration movements. The international migration regime created by the Settlement Law of 1934 was also an important factor affecting these vengeances. This law made it easier for “people of Turkish descent and adherence to Turkish culture” to come to Turkey as immigrants or refugees. On the other hand, this law has been the main source in preventing people who are “not of Turkish descent and not affiliated with Turkish culture” from coming to Turkey as immigrants or refugees for a while. The mass migration flows that took place in Turkey between 1950-1980 also show this. . The migration of Greeks and Jews in 1974 has the characteristics of the non-Muslim population to migrate out of Turkey. Migration of Turks and Muslims in Yugoslavia and Bulgaria from the Balkans to Turkey is one of the important migrations that took place in this period and affected the following periods. According to experts, migration from Yugoslavia to Turkey took place due to socio-economic reasons, while migrations from Greece and Bulgaria to Turkey occurred as a result of political pressures.

A total of 305,158 people from 77,431 families immigrated from Yugoslavia to Turkey even in the Republican period alone. 14,494 people from these families who came until 1950 were resettled by the state. The other part of the families settled in Turkey as free immigrants.

There has been migration from Bulgaria to Turkey in three periods. According to statistical data, 156,063 people immigrated from Bulgaria to Turkey in the 1949-1951 period. The last migration movement from Bulgaria started in 1989 when Muslim Bulgarian citizens of Turkish origin were forced to migrate to Turkey by the Bulgarian government. Within a year, 345 thousand 960 people immigrated to Turkey and this number reached 360 thousand by the end of 1990.

After the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979, it was seen that close to one million people migrated from Iran to Turkey. In terms of ethnic origins, there are people of Persian and Kurdish origin, mostly Azeri.

Many people of Turkish origin immigrated to our country from Afghanistan to Turkey due to the war that started after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. Among those who came are Uzbeks, Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz. In history

Mass migration from Syria to Turkey took place in 1945, 1951, 1953 and 1967. These immigrants, whose numbers are unknown, were settled in Kırıkhan, İskenderun and Adana.

After the Halabja massacre in Northern Iraq in 1988, 51,542 people immigrated from Iraq to Turkey. After the 1991 Gulf War, 467,489 people fled to Turkey.

In addition, 20 thousand people from Bosnia between 1992-1998, 17.746 people after the events that took place in Kosovo in 1999, and 10.500 people from Macedonia in 2001 immigrated.

Between 1961-1980, labor migration from Turkey to European countries took place. Many people from Turkey have gone to work as workers in European countries, especially in Germany. The period between 1961-1973 was the period when immigration to abroad was the most intense. People from mainly rural areas migrated from our country. During this period, approximately 780,000 Turkish citizens immigrated abroad. 82% of the migration was to Western Europe and 84% to the Federal Germany. 10% of the workers migrating from Turkey are from the East and Southeast Anatolia Region, 12.5% ​​from the Black Sea Region, 15% from the Aegean Region, 23% from the Central Anatolia Region, and 33% from the Central Anatolia Region. ' of them are from the Marmara Region. short-term temporary 

It started as a labor migration, but later became a settlement-based migration in the European country as family reunification migration. Turkish migrant workers, who have worked for a certain period of time in the migration of workers from Turkey to Europe, which started in the early 1960s, have become a part of the German society, and have become an “employer” in Germany with their investments, contributing to the German economy and the Turkish economy. have made important contributions. Recruitment of workers slowed down from 1973-1974, and stopped completely after 1980. In the 1970s, there was more immigration to Australia for settlement purposes. Turks in Europe, who definitely planned to return to Turkey one day, preferred to stay in Europe, especially as a result of the disappointments of those who returned in the 1980s. Today, Turks living in European Union member countries such as the Netherlands, France, England and Belgium have adapted to these countries and have now gained a permanent social identity. According to academics, the migration movements of Turks to Europe is the first labor migration in the history of modern Turkey. These migrations, which took place until the 1980s, are considered both as the clarification of Turkey's identity as a known country of immigration and the emergence of immigrant communities of Turkish origin living in different countries.

Another type of migration to Turkey is "international retirement migration". With the Land Registry Law, which was enacted in 2003 and facilitated the acquisition of property by foreigners in Turkey, retirement migration to Turkey from many European countries began and continued increasingly. In this migration wave, a significant number of retired Europeans migrated to many districts and towns of Antalya, especially Alanya, and to Bodrum, Marmaris, Didim and Kaz Mountains and settled by buying a house for themselves. According to the studies carried out so far and the residence permit statistics on this subject, 5000-7000 European settled immigrants, mostly Germans, live in Alanya alone. According to the last census made in 2007, 70,000 Germans reside in Turkey. More than 10,000 Germans live in Alanya alone. According to the results of the "Address Based Population Registration System" (ADNKS) of the Turkish Statistical Institute, which was made using the National Address Database records dated 31 December 2020, the number of foreigners residing in Turkey, which was 1 million 531 thousand 180 in 2019, decreased by 13 percent in 2020 to 1 million 333 thousand 410. These indicators show that there is a decrease in the tendency of European retirees to prefer Turkey.

Migration Movements in Turkey after 1980 have two dimensions as "asylum movements from Turkey to European countries" and "asylum movements towards Turkey".

The increasing political tension before and after September 12 and the growing Kurdish problem, which emerged in the southeast as a result of martial law, led to asylum and refugee movements towards Europe. In this sense, the right to asylum has been a strategy used by immigrants to work in Europe and the numbers have been increasing. According to the studies; From the beginning of the 1980s to the 2000s, an increasing number of asylum seekers migrated from Turkey to European countries.

The source of the migration movements towards Turkey in the 1980s is the political and economic transformations that took place in the near geography of Turkey. Especially as a result of political changes in Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq, hundreds of thousands of people have entered Turkey with asylum movements and irregular migration. In addition, after the collapse of the socialist systems in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the citizens of this country immigrated to Turkey to find temporary jobs. It is seen that those coming from countries such as Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia and Romania work temporarily in areas such as housework, prostitution, entertainment, textile, construction and tourism. . Immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Bangladesh and some African countries see Turkey as a bridge to reach their destination country. These migrations that took place in the 1980s were considered as the migration of non-Turkish and non-Muslim people to Turkey, in other words, the migration of foreigners to Turkey for the first time. Examples of migration showing that Turkey is a country where both immigrants and "foreigners", that is, people with different ethnic and religious identities, live or pass through, can be listed as follows:

-- Refugees from Iran and Iraq,

-- Transit immigrants from Afghanistan and Pakistan,

-- Irregular migrant workers from Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Uzbekistan,

-- German, English and Dutch summer immigrants,

-- European and Asian exchange students,

-- Immigrants of Asian or African origin,

Migration waves to Turkey are intertwined with migration movements, especially transit migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and illegal workers. In this framework, Turkey has three different positions at the same time: Turkey is both an immigration recipient and an immigrant. It is also an immigration transit country. As Turkey acts as a bridge between the Asian, European and African continents and has important sea routes, many immigrants use Turkey as a transit area to migrate to the developed countries of the West.

In this context, the issue of asylum seekers and refugees coming to Turkey from Syria and refugees and asylum seekers from Afghanistan, which has been going on since 2011, has a special importance and never falls from Turkey's agenda. Because, whether they are academics or ordinary citizens on the street, why are there so many 59,877 Syrians under temporary protection in 7 temporary shelter centers in 5 provinces in Turkey as of September 16, 2020. Apart from this, 3,559,041 Syrians with temporary protection live outside the temporary shelter centers. ) Why Syrian and Afghan asylum seekers and refugees are still in Turkey is being wondered and discussed.

Due to the internal turmoil in Syria, approximately 3.6 million people came to Turkey from Syria between April 2011 and January 2020. Even though it has emerged as a temporary asylum movement, the issues of Syrian refugees not being accepted to Turkey and not being sent are constantly discussed and discussed in academic and political environments.

In this context, it would be appropriate to refer to the new Settlement Law of 2006, which replaced the Settlement Law of 1934, and the 1951 Geneva Convention. According to the new Settlement Law of 2006, which replaced the Settlement Law of 1934, as explained above, "people of Turkish descent and adherence to Turkish culture" are accepted to Turkey as immigrants or refugees. Syrian asylum seekers and refugees can be considered as the migration of Muslims who are not of Turkish descent and culture, which shows that the concepts of "from Turkish descent and culture" are ignored. In the migrations from the Balkans to Turkey, the immigrants both overlapped with the concept of "Turkish descent and culture", and it was also the migration of Muslims to Turkey. In other words, immigrants from the Balkans should not be equated with the immigration of Syrians who are Muslim both in terms of concept and status. However, it is clearly seen that the fact that the above-mentioned foreign migrations, especially the people who came from Syria and took refuge, do not come from Turkish descent and culture, and that the Syrian refugees are still in Turkey, do not coincide with this law.

 Also; Turkey, which is a party to the 1951 Geneva Convention, applies the Convention and the 1967 Protocol with the condition of geographical limitation, accepts only those coming from Europe as refugees and calls those coming from outside Europe as "conditional refugees". Although this agreement is still in force with the geographical limitation clause, it makes it a problem for Syrian refugees to stay and settle in Turkey for such a long time. The understanding of geographical limitation applied by Turkey complicates the asylum regime in the country and causes serious criticism from international institutions and various countries on this issue. However, according to academics, by limiting the application of the 1951 Geneva Convention to a certain geography, Turkey takes precautions against the migration flow of politically and economically deprived people from poor and unstable countries in Asia and Africa. However, it has been an indicator of which countries the migration movements to Turkey, where this limitation is not used in practice, take place in recent years. According to experts, this is due to Turkey's liberal visa regime. That is, they stated that until recently, Turkey did not impose visa requirements on citizens of more than forty countries, and applied a three-month visa exemption for Moroccan, Tunisian and Iranian citizens with links to irregular migration.

The first legal regulation in the field of Asylum Law in Turkey is the Law No. 6458 on Foreigners and International Protection (YUKK), which was adopted on April 4, 2013. Pursuant to Article 1, the purpose of the Law has been determined as the protection to be provided to foreigners who request protection from Turkey upon entry of foreigners into Turkey, their stay in Turkey and their exit from Turkey. Within the scope of this Law, "events occurring in European countries" were taken as a criterion and the geographical restriction still continues. The most important change made with the law is that the concept of "conditional refugee" has been replaced by the concept of asylum seeker. With this regulation, it has been decided that conditional refugees will be allowed to stay in Turkey until they are resettled in a third country.

According to the temporary protection clause in Article 91 of the Law on Foreigners and International Protection (YUKK), temporary protection can be provided to foreigners who have been forced to leave their country, cannot return to the country they have left, and who come to or cross our borders en masse in order to find emergency and temporary protection. According to the discussions, Turkey granted temporary protection status to the Syrians it accepted as a result of its “open door policy” and the situation in Syria was normal. Turkey kept them in the "guest" position until they wished to return.

Immigrants from Afghanistan in Turkey, like Syrian refugees, are among the most discussed issues in Turkey recently because they continue to come in droves. According to the figures of the General Directorate of Migration Management on August 12, 2021 in Turkey, 29,118 Afghans came to Turkey with irregular migration this year. This number was 201,437 in 2019 and 50,161 in 2020. The total of the last three years is 280,716. With the opening of the doors to Afghans after the Syrians, there is a concern that Turkey's population and cultural structure will change, and there will be social and economic problems.

The migration of people from Afghanistan to all countries of the world is not a new phenomenon. The longer Afghanistan has been unstable, the longer the Afghan migration has been going on steadily. The migration of Afghan people, which started in late 1970 due to internal conflicts and wars in Afghanistan, continued every year. gained momentum. According to the researches and academic studies of non-governmental organizations, Afghans migrate both for economic reasons and to escape the endless violence and persecution in their countries. According to the “Unknown Direction: Afghans Advancing in Turkey” report published by the Australian-based Mixed Migration Center in 2020, a survey was conducted with a group of Afghan asylum seekers who came to Turkey after 2018 and they were asked why they left the country, and 66.3% of the answers said, violence”. When asked why they came to Turkey, the answer was “meeting with the family.” Among the irregular immigrants coming to Turkey from Afghanistan in the news in the media, mostly fleeing from the Taliban and economic reasons, religion and sect factor, children's interests. reasons such as “a better future” come to the fore. Afghan asylum seekers who come to Turkey generally see Turkey as a classic transit way to go to Europe, and after entering Turkey they want to go to Western countries either without stopping or after living in Turkey for a certain period of time. Turkey, which has a border with Europe, has been greatly affected by irregular migration flows from Afghanistan, both as a destination and transit country. Their primary expectation towards Turkey is to obtain citizenship. In the event that these demands are not met, they try to accumulate the planned migration expenses to Europe during their stay in Turkey. In the report of the Mixed Migration Center, it is stated that most Afghans prefer cities such as Istanbul, Ankara and Konya to make a living and to continue their journey. According to researches, immigrants from Afghanistan mostly work as manual workers in their daily jobs, informally in Turkey.

It is seen that Turkey is trying to produce more humane policies on refugees, both Syrian and Afghan, compared to many European countries. On the other hand, it is known that European governments are trying to take some preventive measures at their borders against a possible large-scale migrant crisis. The credibility of the human rights discourses of many European countries that have chosen to fence their borders with fences and build walls has been met with suspicion. According to UNHCR, Iran, which is home to approximately 780,000 Afghans, has instructed border officials to turn away Afghan citizens seen at crossing points. On the other hand, upon the request of the USA, Uganda accepted 2,000 Afghan refugees. Canada has declared that it will accept 20,000 people, including women leaders, human rights workers and journalists, to protect them from the Taliban's acts of revenge. Britain also promised to resettle 20,000 people in a five-year period. While European countries choose the ones that are suitable for them and accept them in small numbers, it seems that Turkey will continue to discuss the effects of Syrian and Afghan asylum seekers and refugees arriving through irregular/illegal ways on the Turkish society. The leaders of the member states of the European Union think that the situation may lead to a large-scale migrant crisis in the continent. When the goal of Afghan asylum seekers and refugees is to go to Europe, the concerns of European Union leaders are not unjustified in a way. In this case, it is clear from their concerns that international organizations/organizations such as the European Union and the United Nations will not fulfill their duties in order to facilitate the transition of Afghan asylum seekers and migrants to third countries. In this case, it is obvious that Turkey will remain alone in the problem of both Syrian and Afghan asylum seekers and refugees. As a part of Turkish society, the thought that everyone who comes to stay in our country permanently has become alarming.

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