ASYLUM SEEKERS and REFUGEES in BULGARIA: BETWEEN OPENED and CLOSED DOORS

Year 2017, Volume: 18 Issue: 33, 359 - 378, 31.07.2017

Yelis Erolova

https://doi.org/10.21550/sosbilder.292481

Cited By: 1

Abstract

Since 2011, the increasing immigrant inflow from the Middle East to the European Union has led to the implementation of the Bulgarian policy towards asylum and
refugees in a specific way. Bulgaria is a border state of the European
Union where the people from the conflict regions can find security and
their rights to be protected. The article draws attention to the capacity of the
state institutions and readiness of society to host asylum seekers/refugees and develops questions on
possibilities of their reception and integration examined by different interdisciplinary techniques of
ethnographic research. The results of the survey show that asylum
seekers/refugees find themselves in a contradictory situation between the Bulgaria’s asylum policy under a number
of international instruments and national legislation, and the government
decisions, the anti-refugee propaganda and the negative public attitudes. This
controversial situation strengthens the country’s transit position in the migration
corridor to other European countries.

Keywords

refugees, migrants, asylum, stereotypes

Bulgaristan’da Sığınmacılar ve Mülteciler: Açılıp Kapanan Kapılar Arasında

Abstract

2011 yılından itibaren Ortadoğu’dan
Avrupa Birliği ülkelerine doğru artmakta olan göçmen akışı, sığınma arayanlara
ve mültecilere yönelik Bulgar politikasında spesifik bir uygulama biçimine yol
açtı. Bulgaristan, sorunlu bölgelerden gelen insanların güvenlik ve haklarını
koruma imkânı bulabileceği, Avrupa Birliği’nin sınır ülkesidir. Makale,
etnografik araştırmanın çeşitli disiplinlerarası yöntemlerini kullanarak,
devlet kuruluşlarının sığınmacıları/mültecileri barındırma konusundaki
yeterliliği ve toplumun bu kişileri kabul etmedeki hazırlık düzeyi üzerinde
durmakta, mültecilerin kabulü ve entegrasyonuna dair mevcut olanakları
sorgulamaktadır. Yapılan araştırmada ortaya çıkan sonuçlara göre,
sığınmacı/mülteci grupları, Bulgaristan'ın bir dizi uluslararası sözleşme
uyarınca yürüttüğü barındırma
politikalarıyla bu konudaki kendi ulusal yasaları arasında meydana gelen
çelişkiler, hükümet kararları, kamuoyundaki mülteci karşıtı propaganda ile
toplum içindeki negatif tepkiler gibi pek çok olumsuz etkenle karşı karşıya
kalmaktadırlar. Bu çelişkili
durum, Bulgaristan'ın diğer Avrupa ülkelerine uzanan göç koridorundaki transit
konumunu sağlamlaştırmaktadır.

Keywords

mülteciler, göç, sığınma, stereotipler (kalıp yargılar)

References

• Bulgarian Patriarchy. Izvanredno obrashtenie na Sv. Sinod na BPTS po povod krizata s bezhantsite. 26 November 2016, Available at: http://www.bg-patriarshia.bg/news.php?id=184530, (25 March, 2017).
• Collyer, M. and H. De Haas (2012). Developing Dynamic Categorization of Transit Migration. Population, Space and Place, 18 (4), pp. 468-484.
• Council Regulation (EC) No 343/2003 of 18 February 2003, Official Journal L 050, 25/02/2003, Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32003R0343:EN:HTML, (Accessed 15 November, 2015)
• Danova, N. et al. (1995). Predstavata za ‘Drugia’na Balkanite. [The Image of ‘the Other’ in the Balkans.] Sofia: Akademichno Izdatelstvo.
• Darzhaven vestnik [State Gazette] № 80 from 16 October, 2015; № 40 from 16 May, 2000; № 84 from 14 October, 1994.
• Dnevnik “Chirpanliev: V Bulgaria ot bezhantsite ostavat samo kyurdite, koito sa po-zle i ot nashite tsigani” (In Bulgarian) 23.11.2014. Available at: http://www.dnevnik.bg/bulgaria/2014/11/23/2424715_chirpanliev_v_bulgariia_ot_bejancite_ostavat_samo/, (Accessed 15 November, 2015)
• Falzon, M.-A. (ed.) (2009). Multi-Sited Ethnography. Theory, Praxis and Locality in Contemporary Research. Farnham: Ashgate.
• Gaddis, J. (2005). The Cold War: A New History. New York: The Penguin Press.
• Gencheva, R. (2012) Avtoethnographiya na prehoda: ponyatiyata bezhanets i ubezhishte v Bulgaria sled 1989. [Autoethnography in transition: the concepts of refugee and asylum in Bulgaria since 1989] Sociologicheski problemi, 1-2, 9-25.
• Gergova, L. (2012). Ethnicheski stereotipi vav vsekidnevnata kultura. [Ethnic Stereotypes in the Everyday Culture] Sofia: Paradigma.
• Haydinyak, M. (ed.) (2011). Migratsii, pol, mezhdukulturni vzaimodeystviya v Bulgaria. [Migration, Gender and Intercultural Interactions in Bulgaria] Sofia: IMIR.
• Içduygu, A. and D. Sert. (2007). Migrants’Uncertainities versus the State’s Insecurities. Transit Migration in Turkey. In: M. Collyer et al (eds.) Transit Migration in Europe. The Netherlands: Amsterdam University Press, pp.37-54.
• Krasteva, A. (ed.) (2005). Imigratsiyata v Bulgaria. [Imigration in Bulgaria] Sofia: IMIR.
• Krasteva, A. (ed.) (2006). Figurite na bezhanetsa. [The Refugee Figures] Sofia: Nov Bulgarski Universitet.
• Krasteva, A. et al. (eds) (2010). Migrations from and to Southeastern Europe. Ravenna: Longo Editore.
• Lazarova, G. (2004). Bulgarskiyat ethnicheski model v mediynoto ogledalo: dvulikiyat Yanus. [Bulgarian Ethnic Model in the Media Mirror: Janus-headed] In: A. Krasteva (ed.) Ot ethnichnost kam migratsiya. Sofia: Nov Bulgarski Universitet, pp. 60-74.
• Mancheva, M. and E. Troeva. (2011). Migratsii ot i kam Bulgaria: sastoyanie na izsledvaniyata. [Migrations from and towards Bulgaria: conditions of the studies] In: M. Haydnyak (ed.). Migratsii, pol, mezhdukulturni vzaimodeystviya v Bulgaria. Sofia: IMIR, 17-68.
• Mancheva, M. and E. Troeva. (2011). Migratsiya, religiya i dzhendar: imigrantki myusyulmanki. [Migration, Religion and Gender: Muslim Imigrant Women] In: M. Haydnyak (ed.). Migratsii, pol, mezhdukulturni vzaimodeystviya v Bulgaria. Sofia: IMIR, 177-216.
• Marcus, G. (1995). Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited Ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24, 95-117.
• Montanari, A. and G. Piazzese. Smuggling migrants through Bulgaria. 23.08.16. Deutsche Welle, Available from: http://www.dw.com/en/smuggling-migrants-through-bulgaria/a-19491758, (20 January, 2017)
• OXFAM International. Refugees crossing into Europe tell of abuse at hands of Bulgarian Police. 13 November 2015, Available at: https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2015-11-13/refugees-crossing-europe-tell-abuse-hands-bulgarian-police, (Accessed 20 November, 2015)
• Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013, Official Journal of the European Union L180/31, Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32013R0604, (Accessed 15 November, 2015) Report of the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Interior (In Bulgarian) 20.11.2013. Available at: http://www.24chasa.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=2463407, (Accessed 20 September, 2014)
• Said, Ed. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Random House.
• State Agency for Refugees. Applications and decisions taken 01.01.1993-28.02.2017. Avalaible at: http://www.aref.government.bg/?cat=21, (Accessed 15 March, 2017)
• State Agency for Refugees. Prava i zadylzheniya na chuzhdentsite poluchili zakrila spored zakona za ubezhishteto i bezhantsite. (in Bulgarian), Avalable at: www.aref.government.bg/docs/PRAVA.doc, (Accessed 15 November, 2015)
• Trud Online. “Elena Yoncheva: Trybva da sprem da iznasyame demokratsiya s bombi” (In Bulgarian). An interview with Elena Yoncheva. 22.11.2015. Available at: https://trud.bg/article-5127542/, (Accessed 15 March, 2017)
• UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNHCR observations on the current asylum system in Bulgaria, 2 January 2014, Available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/52c598354.html (Accessed 11 April 2017)
• United Nations Treaty Collection. Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, Geneva 28 July 1951; Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, New York, 31 Jaunary 1967; Available at: https://treaties.un.org/Pages/Treaties.aspx?id=5&subid=A&lang=en, (Accessed 15 November, 2015)