State, Refugees, and Civil Society in Turkey: Transformation Under Control
Öz
The forced migration movement from Syria, which began in 2011, has brought about significant changes in civil society within Turkey. The already existing complex relationship between the state and civil society, is further diversified in the context of forced migration, presenting the need to focus on the provision of humanitarian assistance, access to services, and integration of Syrian refugees who are legally under temporary protection, without international refugee recognition. Furthermore, state-driven cross-border humanitarian operations and security-oriented state policies also shape this landscape. Therefore, the interplay between civil society actors –existing, government-supported, and newly emerging– and security-oriented state policies contributes to this transformation. Historical and political realities, alongside global-local crises, influence the trajectory of change within civil society, positioning authorities as pivotal decision-makers in managing individuals’ movement. Through in-depth interviews in different cities of Turkey with NGOs and refugee-led civil society members in 2018, the article uncovers the formation and progression of relationships between civil society actors and the state, revealing adaptations and adjustments based on contextual circumstances. The article seeks to move beyond comprehensive liberal and developmental perspectives, instead focusing on the evolving dynamics of state control within migration-related civil society.
Anahtar Kelimeler
Turkey, Civil Society, Forced Migration, State Control, Humanitarian Assistance
Etik Beyan
Ethics committee approval was obtained for this study from Koç University Ethics Committee for Social Sciences for the periods spanning from March 25, 2015, to 2016, and from June 13, 2017, to 2018 (one-year periods), under protocol number 2015.076.IRB3.034.
Kaynakça
- Adar, Sinem and Friedrich Püttmann (2022), “Making EU-Turkey cooperation on migration sustainable: a greater focus on the Turkish host society is required”, SWP Comment, 7 (Berlin: Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik -SWP- Deutsches Institut für Internationale Politik und Sicherheit).
- Altıok, Birce and Salih Tosun (2020), “Understanding foreign policy strategies during migration movements: a comparative study of Iraqi and Syrian mass refugee inflows to Turkey”, Turkish Studies, 21 (5): 684-704.
- Atalay, Zeynep (2018), “Authoritarian neoliberalism and Islamist civil society in Turkey”, Kamruzzaman, Palash (Ed.), Civil Society in the Global South (London: Routledge): 176-192.
- Barın, Hilal (2021), Türkiye'deki Suriyelilerin Entegrasyonunda Sivil Toplum Kuruluşlarının Rolü (İstanbul: Kadim).
- Betts, Alexander (2011), “Introduction: Global migration governance”, Betts, Alexander (Ed.), Global Migration Governance (Oxford: Oxford University Press): 1-33.
- BBC (2017), “Türkiye ABD merkezli Yardım Kuruluşu Mercy Corps’un Faaliyetini Durdurdu”, https://bbc.com/turkce/haberler-turkiye-39205825 (08.03.2017).
- Boşnak, Büke (2021), “Politics of Subsidiarity in Refugee Reception: The Case of Civil Society in Turkey”, Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 19 (3): 301-315.
- Callaghy, Thomas M. (1984), The State-Society Struggle: Zaire in Comparative Perspective (New York: Columbia University Press).
- Cohen, Jean. L. (2003), “Sociedade Civil e Globalização: Repensando Categorias”, Dados, 46 (3): 419-459.
- Collier, Ruth Berins and David Collier (1979), “Inducements Versus Constraints: Disaggregating 'Corporatism'?”, American Political Science Review, 73 (December): 967-987.