The concept of "The other" and European Union migration policy

Although the European Union (EU) has passed through various crisis periods since its foundation, refugee and immigrant crisis that is confronted in recent years by European Union (EU) can be demonstrated as one of the biggest problems that the Union has faced up to now. Even though considered as a supranational structure by some theorists and by a part of the international community, due to differences between responses and taken positions of the EU member states against huge immigrant flows and its accompanying problems that were reached a crisis level especially after Syrian Civil War, it is required the EU should be defined as an organization which is formed by nation states which protect their own national interests or make concessions at the minimum level from these. In this study, while it is explained the stages of foundation of the EU and its transformational processes and its endeavors to create a common immigration policy, it will be emphasized differences between national immigration policies of the EU member States and policy of the EU and also it will be underlined the difficulty to establish a fully functioning, healthy common immigration policy within the EU. On the other hand, the antagonism between "Euopean" identity which Europe has been trying to build and anti-immigrant even racial and xenophobic discourses and policies that are rising day by day in Europe and all around the World. In this study, this intransigence will be handled by using "other" and "otherness" concepts. As a result, in this study, it will be tried to explain that the position which Europe is trying to define and place itself throughout the history is not a solid ground. Especially in the scope of developments that may be defined as crisis in recent years, it can be seen clearly to what extent the European community and European states can move away from values they define themselves.