Turkey’s Refugee Crisis: The Politics of Permanence

Turkey is under growing pressure from nearly three million Syrian refugees. To mitigate domestic tensions and spillover from regional conflicts, Ankara needs to develop, and find support for, new policies that open refugees’ routes to jobs, education and permanent legal status.

Turkey’s response to the influx of Syrians is a source of national pride. The massive numbers pose significant absorptive and financial challenges and compound problems stemming from complex demographics, deep political polarisation and rising security threats. The uncertainties with regard to the Syria war delayed long-term planning by both authorities and Syrians in Turkey.

Ankara now needs to assume the permanence of the refugees in order to craft an integration strategy to mitigate the long-term risk for the nation’s stability. Replacing top down, erratic policymaking with a national plan alongside efforts to build consensus among constituencies is necessary both for Syrians to have clarity about their future in Turkey and to ensure that their hosts do not see them as an economic burden, security threat or instrument for redesigning national identity.

ESO: Background information: Keeping Syrian Refugees Out Has Not Made Turkey Secure http://www.europeansources.info/record/keeping-syrian-refugees-out-has-not-made-turkey-secure/

ESO: Background information: Facility for Refugees in Turkey: over €1.4 billion in support of education and health for Syrian refugees http://www.europeansources.info/record/facility-for-refugees-in-turkey-over-e1-4-billion-in-support-of-education-and-health-for-syrian-refugees/

ESO: Background information: International Summit: Meeting of the EU heads of state or government with Turkey, Brussels, 7 March 2016 http://www.europeansources.info/record/international-summit-meeting-of-the-eu-heads-of-state-or-government-with-turkey-brussels-7-march-2016/

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