Policies for combating immigrant smuggling crime and immigrant smuggling in the Turkish Penal Code

In this study titled "The Crime of Smuggling of Migrants in the Turkish Criminal Code and Policies to Combat Smuggling of Migrants", 'migration', which is the most fundamental action of human beings since its existence, has been the subject of examination. The point where the act of migration, which is sociologically classified in many classifications, comes into contact with criminal law is 'illegal migration'. Due to many reasons such as civil war, economic problems, climate crisis, the number of migration and migrants is increasing day by day in the world and unfortunately, it is seen that most of these migrations are made illegally. Migrants, who are the main subject of illegal migration, sometimes reach the country of destination or transit with the help of individuals or groups of individuals in exchange for material benefits. It is precisely at this point that migrants become the subject-victim of the crime and the crime of migrant smuggling, one of the manifestations of the concept of migration in criminal law, occurs. The study examines the crime of migrant smuggling from a legal perspective and includes evaluations on combating this crime. In order to conduct a study in this context, firstly, a literature review was conducted; the concepts of migration and migrants, types of migration, illegal migration, and the basic regulations and organizations regarding migrant smuggling in international law were examined. Due to its geopolitical position, Türkiye is a country where migration mobility is intense in the world, the legal legislation in terms of Turkey has been studied by making a comparison in terms of laws in force and outdated laws. The fact that migrant smuggling has been one of the most important issues on the international agenda in recent years and the increase in the victimization of both individuals and states has made it necessary to formulate a number of policies in this field. It has been emphasized that the policies developed to combat migrant smuggling vary according to the way the problem of migrant smuggling is addressed. When migrant smuggling is considered within the scope of international organized crime, the measures being implemented overlap with the measures within the scope of combating international organized crime. Within the scope of the study, the policies implemented and proposed to be implemented in the fight against migrant smuggling were examined in the context of Türkiye, and Germany and France, two European Union countries with which Türkiye has close relations and which closely experience the migrant problem, were selected as examples in this context and examined in terms of the policies they implement regarding migrant smuggling.