Temporary by design: how Turkey manages, but doesn’t integrate, Syrian refugees through historical models of control
Date
2025-03-28
DOI
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Version
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
My thesis examines Turkey’s Temporary Protection Regulation (TPR) for Syrian refugees as a strategic extension of long-standing state practices of population management and exclusion established since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. While the international community often frames TPR as a humanitarian response to the Syrian refugee crisis, this paper argues that Turkey’s refugee policy is deeply rooted in the legacy of Ottoman governance, the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, and the influence of Western intervention. By utilizing a combination of both archival research from the Mark Bristol Papers and post-WWI diplomatic correspondence from the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, along with contemporary policy analysis of Syrian refugees’ rights in Turkey, this paper aims to show how the management of minority populations in the late Ottoman and early Republican periods informs Turkey’s current refugee laws and management. TPR ultimately offers limited rights and legal ambiguity, resulting in Syrian refugees existing in a state of social and economic precarity while reinforcing narratives of national security and sovereignty. The policy exemplifies how modern refugee management can serve as a tool for demographic engineering and international political leverage, rather than integration or long-term protection.
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License
Attribution 3.0 United States