Migration Management in Turkey: Discourse and Practice

Abstract

This article analyzes the discourse and practice of migration management in Turkey. It identifies four major themes in the discourse between 2014 and 2020: Migration as a 1) burden, 2) humanitarian responsibility, 3) justification for transborder operations, and 4) fault line in Turkey-European Union (EU) relations. Then it analyzes migration management practices in three categories: 1) legal challenges, 2) agents and relations of policing, 3) surveillance. Adopting a multimethod approach, the article combines qualitative data collection with interpretive analysis. It concludes that despite the humanitarian emphasis in political discourse, there are embedded in/security practices in the field of migration management in Turkey.