Türki̇ye-Iraq relations and migration movements towards Turkey (1990-2007)

Iraq, which was ruled as three provinces as Mosul, Baghdad and Basra under the Ottoman rule for many years, then entered the British mandate and declared its independence in 1932, has been one of the important neighbouring countries with its historical and cultural, geopolitical, natural resources, social, ethnic and sectarian characteristics. Turkey-Iraq relations, which followed a fluctuating course in the historical process, started to be shaped in the direction of different formations with the hosting of cities such as Mosul and Kirkuk, which were within the borders of Mîsâk-ı Milli during the Atatürk and İnönü period, the oil reserves of these cities, and the increasing interest of the USA in the region in the post-Cold War period. The first intensive migration movement that Turkey faced in this period was the migration of Kurds from Northern Iraq who escaped from the attacks of Saddam Hussein after the Gulf War I. Turkey, which met with the intensive migration movements of Turks migrating from Bulgaria at the end of the 1980s, did not open its borders in the first period and waited for support from the international community. After the 1988 Halabja Massacre, Turkey did not open its borders in the first period against the migration movement in 1991 and waited for support from the international community. At first, the Western world remained silent about the human tragedy at the Turkish border and tried to support the refugees across the border. Upon the emergence of the situation of Iraqi asylum seekers in the Western public opinion, the USA and its Western allies intervened in the incident and aimed to stop the flow of Iraqi immigrants in the process that resulted in the Safe Zone, Hammer Force, Reconnaissance Force and then the occupation of Iraq. With the Gulf War I, Turkey was confronted with Kurdish immigrant groups from Iraq for the first time, and Turkey, which had a bad experience in the face of Iraqis fleeing the 1988 Halabja Massacre, had to face a difficult test with both socio-economic and security concerns. In line with this information, the aim of the research is to evaluate Turkey-Iraq relations on a historical level, to analyse the migration movements in the 16-year period from the post-Gulf War I period until 2007 in terms of cause and effect, and to reveal the dynamics determining the migration movements from Iraq to Turkey.