The Unfolding of the Syrian Refugee Crisis in Turkey: From Temporariness to Permanency

This chapter scrutinizes how the policy and discourse in respect to refugees have developed in Turkey since the beginning of the mass migration of Syrians in 2011. Refugees were initially welcomed for a short-term stay, however it became evident after some time that the situation was not temporary but becoming more and more permanent. The Turkish state under the Justice and Development Party rule immediately adapted to this situation by revitalizing a religious discourse of hospitality. Based on the findings of an Horizon 2020 research project (RESPOND), the chapter claims that that there is a parallel between the state of temporariness granted to the Syrian refugees by the Turkish government and the Islamic set of discourses and policies generated by the government in the second half of the 2000s leading to the de-Europeanization of Turkey. The chapter also argues that the break-up of Turkey’s European perspective has partly contributed to the destabilization of the Middle East and the emergence of the Syrian crisis.