Securitization of migration: The Syrian crisis and the European Union

Migration and security are among the most important areas that are affected by the changes in the international system in the post-Cold War period. Especially in the post-1990 period, security that reaches deepening-expanding dimensions and intense migration flow as a result of civil wars brought these two issues to the fore. In this framework, this new period has led to a conceptual and theoretical transformation in terms of deepening and expanding dimensions of these topics. This thesis covers these two issues within the scope of European Union (EU). The aim of study is mainly to examine the nexus between security and migration in the approaches of EU institutions. The study in this context examines the similarities and the differences in migration approaches of the EU institutions within the context of the Copenhagen School theory and the 2011 Syrian crisis, which is considered as the "refugee crisis" by the EU. Thus, in addition to introducing the common migration policy of the Union, this research also presents the map of the migration discourses of the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament. The Syrian crisis addressed in the study is an important case in terms of the fact that approximately 12 million people have been displaced in and out of the country from the population of 22 million in the pre-2011. At the same time, refugee crisis period is important in terms of the intensive settlement of migration on the EU agenda. So, this example allows to research how the EU institutions handle migration in the face of the increasing flow of migration to Europe. In this context, the study argues that EU institutions have securitized the migration and there are similar and different approaches in the discourses of these institutions within the scope of economic, cultural and internal security themes. Keywords: EU, EU institutions, common migration policy, refugee crisis, securitization