Compulsory guesthood, social cohesion, and the politics of hospitality in Turkey

Abstract

This article explores hospitality as a key rhetorical framework for refugee management in Turkey by focusing on how host-guest relations are mobilized to represent, interpret, and problematize the current state of affairs regarding Syrian refugees, as well as to formulate policies. It analyses the transformation of hospitality rhetoric, the notion of ‘compulsory guesthood’, and the most recent social cohesion initiatives. I argue that host-guest metaphors are used to assert power and leverage both domestically and internationally by exerting sovereign control over a post-imperial nation-space, performing neo-imperial guardianship over the downtrodden, and claiming an ethno-religious, civilizational morality that exceeds the legalistic logic of human rights and entitlements.