Turkish-Syrian border

Although the tensions and conflicts between the local population and the refugees at the border regions do erupt at times, they are by no means the immediate consequences of the encounters among locals and refugees. Rather, they are mediated by the ways in which the emergency and societal responses to the ›refugee crisis‹ are politically deployed and discursively narrated. Drawing on Walters’ distinction between three historically different trajectories of territorial borders, namely ›geopolitical borders,‹ ›national borders,‹ and ›biopolitical borders,‹ this paper argues that the emergency and societal responses to the Syrian refugees at the Syrian-Turkish border express the trajectory of Turkish-Syrian border as a geopolitical and national border. Focusing on the contestations among Turkish citizens, Syrian refugees and local authorities in the context of refugee reception in the border city of Gaziantep, the paper demonstrates that ›geopolitical‹ and ›national‹ borders in southeastern Turkey should not be conceived of as being firmly in place. Rather, they are quickly upended by nationalist violence and transborder ethnic ties, compelling state authorities to seek stability and assimilation among the border populations.

La petite ville de Ceylanpınar (Ras al'Aïn pour les Arabes, Serekaniye pour les Kurdes), à la frontière turco-syrienne, est un point de passage particulier en raison de l'existence, sur la frontière, d'une immense ferme d'Etat, qui abrite elle-même un immense camp de réfugiés syriens

2011 yılında Suriye Arap Cumhuriyeti’nde ortaya çıkan iç savaşa bağlı olarak kitleler halinde sınır ülkelere doğru bir göç akımı başlamış ve bu göçlerin artması ile mülteci krizi patlak vermiştir. Aynı yıl Türkiye’ye sınır illerden girmeye başlayan Suriyeli mültecilere karşı başından itibaren “açık kapı” politikası uygulamış ve girişlerine herhangi bir kısıtlama getirilmemiştir. Sayıları gittikçe artan mülteciler Türkiye için altından kalkması zor bir sınava dönüşmüş, uluslararası yardım talebinde bulunulmuştur. 

Bu çalışmada 2011 yılında başlayan Suriye mülteci krizinin yedinci yılına yaklaşırken gelinen son durum ve Türkiye’de sayısı 3 milyonu geçmiş olan mültecilere ait sorunlara yönelik uluslararası çözümler detaylı bir şekilde ele alınmıştır. Türkiye’ye göç ettikleri günden  itibaren genellikle birincil ve acil ihtiyaçları karşılanan mültecilerin diğer sorunlarına  da ışık tutarken, uluslararası örgütlerin öncelik verdiği konular derinlemesine incelenmiştir.

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Due to the civil war that emerged in the Syrian Arab Republic in 2011, mass migration to border countries began, resulting in the eruption of the refugee crisis. In the same year, Syrian refugees began their marches to safety from the borders into neighboring countries and in this regard, Turkey has carried out an "open door" policy with zero restrictions on refugee entry. Thus, vast numbers of refugees have fled to Turkey causing severe complications within the country. Therefore, international assistance has been requested by the Turkish government.

This study examines the recent situation stemming from the Syrian refugee crisis, which is currently approaching its seventh year. Furthermore, the study explores in detail international support for the plight of refugees, whose population now exceeds three million. This study also examines the primary topics of international organizations dealing with the crisis and focuses on other problems of refugees whose primary and urgent needs in general terms.

FROM WALLS PROTECTING PEOPLE, TO WALLS PROTECTING STATES
Since the foundation of the world, human communities have developed sheltering and protection tools and corresponding defence and attack means against the attacks from outside. Constructing walls was one of the main methods of this. In this walls against enemies, Great Wall of China has a special place. However; the Wall that marked the last century is the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1989, a symbol of political division in a global context. Yet, it is a coincidence that after the fall of the Berlin Wall, all the concepts of war and border became ambiguous. The world shrank, Samuel Huntington’s predictions began to come true, and more and more identity battles began to take place.
Besides; after the Cold War, the modern World has brought to the forefront how to protect itself from the mass movements. There, now, have been uncontrolled humanitarian movements with even greater threats than the atomic missiles of the USA or the USSR. When the internal conflict in Syria, started in 2011,  and then the internal proxy wars started to shake not only the neighbouring countries like Turkey, but also the whole of Europe; successive safekeeping measures emerged. Developed countries first strengthened their borders in order to combat the influx of refugees or irregular migration; and then, they tried to shift the problem out of Europe by creating buffer zones. The fact that the EU-Turkey relations after 2013, which loads shield mission to Turkey, is almost entirely rests on the refugee crisis, explains this situation best.
In this study, when on the one hand discussing the Wall having been built over the eastern and south-eastern borders of Turkey in excess of 1,000 km.; on the other hand, we will try to analyse the financial support and mute dissent of the EU for this Wall. If Turkey had tried to construct such a Wall prior to 2011, it could have had very strong opposition and reaction from the EU. Yet, now, it is being supported. This study seeks to associate the process of the wall being constructed on the borders of Turkey with the walls of late history. While aiming to understand the new security concept of the European Union, we specifically care to explain what Turkey’s role is here.

Key Words: Migration, security, the EU, Turkey, wall.