Syrian Immigrants and Turkish–European Union Migration Deals: Business as Usual

Cenk Aygul

Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 2025, vol. 27, issue 4, 495-512

Abstract: Turkish–European Union Migration Agreement (TEMD) was signed in 2016, at the height of the Syrian migration flows. Together with this deal, the EU aimed at blocking the migration flows from the Middle East to Europe, and for not so obvious reasons, Turkey accepted to be a buffer between these two. Immigration, in its numerous legal, semi-legal and illegal varieties, has been the lifeblood of capitalism. Despite all the harsh rhetoric against immigration, the flows are not abated, but rather the newcomers are stratified in a manner that locks the newcomers into vulnerable positions. In this article, I will examine the case of immigration control regulations between the EU and Turkey. The EU and Turkey has a complex relationship of immigration flows that include third-country nationals as well as the native populations. The ‘EU-Turkey Statement and Action Plan’ was signed to constitute the pinnacle of a series of dealings between these two entities, though the balance of power is clearly skewed towards the former. This article intends to start examining the stratification effects of the Syrian immigration and the subsequent transformation of the immigration politics played among the three actors: the EU/Germany, Turkey and Syria.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/19448953.2024.2414187

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