Turkiye-European Union relationship after the Syrian Civil War: An evaluation on migration and security

Although the concept of security has a long-standing background, there is no universally agreed and precise definition within the international system. This is due to the fact that security is addressed in an interdisciplinary context, shaped by the variety of actors included in the analysis, and influenced by the nature of the parameters employed. For many years, the dominant paradigm in international relations, the Realist approach, treated security narrowly, limiting it to military factors that threatened the survival of the state. However, the political and social transformations following the end of the Cold War demonstrated that analyzing security solely from a state-centric perspective was analytically insufficient. In this regard, new approaches that emphasize the importance of incorporating individuals, societies, as well as social, cultural, and economic factors into security studies have gained prominence. This transformation became even more evident with the emergence of non-traditional threats, such as the Syrian migration, which have assumed a central role in international relations. One of the most influential schools of thought that introduced a multidimensional perspective to the field of security is the Copenhagen School. The "securitization theory," developed by leading figures of the Copenhagen School, Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver, defines securitization as the process through which a particular phenomenon is perceived as a threat, constructed discursively in social and political spheres, and legitimized as requiring extraordinary measures that lie outside normal political procedures. Within the framework of this theory, migration has been one of the key issues emphasized by the Copenhagen School. Especially since the 1990s, as migration began to be addressed within the context of security, it has become a significant factor in shaping the security policies of nation-states. Building on this, the present study seeks to analyze how migration is constructed not merely as an ordinary policy issue but as a security threat necessitating extraordinary measures. The largest migration movement observed in the international system since the Second World War emerged as a result of the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011 in the wake of the Arab Spring. This development has deeply affected not only the Middle East but also the entire international system. One of the areas most profoundly impacted has been Turkey-European Union relations, which constitute the focus of this study. In this context, the post-Syrian civil war period has seen Turkey–EU relations redefined through the parameters of migration and security. This study employs securitization theory to examine Turkey–European Union relations in the post-Syrian civil war period within the nexus of migration and security. The central argument of the study is that the mass migration originating from Syria, perceived and constructed as a security threat by both Turkey and the European Union, has weakened traditional channels of cooperation and driven bilateral relations into crisis. Within this framework, the study evaluates the new security risks posed by the refugee issue for the future of Turkey–EU relations and the possible outcomes it may generate.