Reconciling Refugee Protection With Combating Irregular Migration: Turkey and the EU

Abstract

During the course of the 1990s, the issue of immigration in general and irregular migration in particular, has been high up on the political agenda of many European countries. The arrival of boats full of illegal migrants to the shores of France and Italy, especially during the late 1990s, accompanied by surges in the number of asylum seekers during the same period, played an important role in the rise of anti-immigration feelings in some European countries. These developments came to dominate the domestic politics of a number of EU countries and became hotly contested issues during election campaigns. Efforts to develop a "common asylum and immigration" European Union policy has also been deeply influenced by these developments. Most strikingly during the run up to the Seville European Council in June 2002, the British and Spanish prime ministers, Tony Blair and Jose Anzar, called for tough measures to stem illegal migration and asylum applications. There were even calls for the introduction of sanctions against countries failing to cooperate against illegal migration. One of the countries threatened by sanctions for not combating transit illegal migration rigorously enough was actually Turkey itself. In the meantime the European Council authorised the European Commission to negotiate readmission agreements with a list of countries including Turkey. Furthermore, the European Union during the course of early 2004 adopted a series of Directives on Asylum which have left the refugee advocacy community deeply concerned about the erosion of the international refugee regime based on the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Hence, the European Union has been increasingly depicted as a "fortress of Europe" with little room for asylum seekers, refugees and migrants.