Migration in the age of globalization: An analysis of EU and Turkish migration policies in the dilemma of values and interests on Syrian immigrants

In the era of globalization, it is seen that migration movements have accelerated, their purpose and scope have expanded, and multi-directional migration movements have emerged. Migration is a phenomenon as old as human history. People have been constantly changing places for various purposes throughout history. As a result of the events that took place in Syria in 2011, the international system witnessed one of the most important migration waves. Turkey is one of the countries most affected by the migration wave as a result of the conflicts in Syria. The policy of Turkey and the EU towards Syrian immigrants has been discussed by comparing them in the dilemma of values and interests. The purpose of this comparison is to contribute to the solution of this problem by discussing the causes, consequences, legal dimensions, development process and solution of the current migrant crisis. Although Turkey had a value-oriented attitude due to its religious and historical ties by following an open-door policy towards immigrants from Syria at first, it started to take an attitude that prioritized its interests over time due to the fact that the problem gradually became permanent and the discontent experienced within the country. The EU, on the other hand, has pursued a policy of externalizing migration by not accepting Syrian immigrants for ethnic, cultural identity and religious reasons from the very beginning. The fact that the EU is an organization based on values does not mean that it is independent of member state interests. The EU uses values as a tool to reach its interests by legitimizing humanitarian and universal values for the sake of its interests. In this study, it is examined how immigration policies are built on the basis of Idealism and Realism theories, which constitute the theoretical framework of the thesis. Again, it is aimed to contribute to the understanding of the refugee problem in the global age with the dialectical method and the induction method over dual variations such as Globalization and Nation-states, Idealism and Realism, values and interests, Turkey and the EU. While making these dialectical analyzes, the example of Syrian immigrants was used in order to present concrete data. By using statistics, reports and news sources about Syrian immigrants, the reasons for the ambivalent attitude about immigration policies were investigated through economic, political, religion, language, socio-cultural factors. During the research process in this study, a comprehensive literature review was made and related concepts were evaluated in a cause-effect relationship. In particular, primary sources have been taken into account, and statistical data, reports, newspaper reports, copyright and research works have been taken into account.