Memories that will shed light on Turkey's Asylum Seeker/Refugee Problem: Part-1

Why and How was the Geographical Reservation Protected?

Between 2008 and 2011, I was assigned to the Human Rights Department of the Prime Ministry until I went to Chicago to research the balance between freedom and security in the U.S. During these three years, I was mainly responsible for the Department on Refugees and Migrants, in addition to different assignments in Turkey and abroad. 

I have three memories about "legal regulation and geographical reservation", "demining the Syrian border and resettlement of Afghan refugees", "EU and readmission agreements", which are very important for Turkey, which will guide us to understand today's problems and their nature. 

In this article, I will present a brief cross-section of the experiences on why and how the geographical reservation is protected in legal regulations: 

Legal Regulation and Geographical Reservation

During the screening process, I took part in Brussels meetings as the EU representative of the Ministry of Interior, in meetings of the Reform Monitoring Group (RIG) as the representative of the Prime Minister's Office, and in many international meetings and projects involving human rights issues. The highlights of my observations were as follows:

"Turkey was putting burden sharing and the freedom of movement for workers, an acquis right under the Rome Convention, on the table with both the European Union and the Council of Europe. 

These international organizations, intending to protect Fortress Europe from the influx of refugees by creating dam countries, put three main demands on the table in front of Turkey as a candidate country": 

- "The first is a legal arrangement that removes the geographical reservation and introduces border management,

- The second is the signing of readmission agreements, 

- The third is the clearance of mines on the Syrian border."

The EU played a dominant role in the first two demands and the UN in the third. 

I was assigned to prepare the final opinion on behalf of the Prime Ministry in the legal regulation process. 

First, the process should be briefly summarized: 

When Turkey signed the 1951 United Nations (UN) Refugee Convention in Geneva, it made a reserve that it would not accept as refugees anyone seeking asylum in Turkey from countries other than member states of the Council of Europe. 

This reserve may have three possible purposes (1):

- "to be selective about who settles in Turkey",

- "Protecting the public order of the country against asylum seekers", 

- "It can be counted as not disturbing the existing national and demographic harmony"

- "A fourth aim, which can be considered a continuation of the previous aim, is to preserve the Western face of Turkey and to avoid an Eastern population."

Regulation No. 1994/6169 dated November 30, 1994 has a long title due to this reservation:

"Regulation on the Procedures and Principles to be Applied to Individual Foreigners Seeking Asylum in Turkey or Requesting Residence Permit from Turkey in order to Seek Asylum in Another Country, and to Foreigners Arriving at Our Borders Collectively for the Purpose of Asylum and to Population Movements That May Occur"...

As a result of the 1991 invasion of Iraq, measures for mass refugees were concretized in this way, and arrangements were made for "guests". 

Turkey became a party to the 1967 New York Protocol, maintaining the geographical limitation. 

In April 2013, the Turkish Grand National Assembly passed Turkey's first asylum law, the Law on Foreigners and International Protection, which entered into force on April 11, 2014. 

The Directorate General of Migration Management was also established under this law. 

In accordance with the aforementioned law, the Temporary Protection Regulation was enacted on October 22, 2014. 

In this report, it was especially pointed out that the open door policy would turn our country into a refugee reservoir due to Fortress Europe and would create a large mass that could not adequately serve the production and future destiny of our country and would create problems that threaten the security of the country. 

Significant efforts were made in this direction and the condition of "geographical reservation" was preserved in the legal regulation in accordance with the opinion of the Prime Ministry. (2)

The preservation of this reservation has always strengthened the hand of the Republic of Turkey. 

The effectiveness of its use is the subject of a separate article.

Footnotes

(1) Fakılı, Şakir (2021). Migrants, Asylum Seekers, Asylum Seekers: What Did Turkey's Reserve to the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention Mean? https://apm.org.tr/2021/01/21/gocmenler-siginmacilar-ilticacilar-turkiyenin-1951-cenevre-multeci-sozlesmesine-koydugu-rezerv-ne-anlama-geliyordu/

(2) Undoubtedly, some of the proposals of the Prime Ministry's opinion, which can be the subject of another article, were not accepted, but one of the proposals that was accepted was the geographical reservation, the importance of which was insistently emphasized and demonstrated.  The legal regulation was enacted accordingly.