Migration policies of Turkey and The European Union: The Example of Syrian asylum seekers

The phenomenon of migration is an issue that has been proceeding since the history of mankind and has been increasing day by day. In this context, examined together with its causes and consequences, international migration is seen that it has some effects on individuals and societies. Increasing communication and transportation opportunities on the earth have brought societies closer to each other and enabled the world to become smaller than before. In this way, individuals or masses have the opportunity to compare the opportunities and development levels between their communities and other societies. In some cases, individuals have to migrate due to conflicts. In such migrations, the target country is generally developed countries. As a result of the Syrian civil war, one of the most concrete examples of this situation, millions of asylum seekers have emerged. Syrian asylum seekers who are in danger of life and property as a result of the civil war in Syria have been turning their steps towards neighbouring countries such as Turkey; in the mean time, they have been trying to reach the European Union countries illegally in the hope of a better life. In this thesis, how and to what extent the migration policies of Turkey and European Union have been more successful within the context of Syrian asylum seekers are compared. In this context, quantitative data is used to test the policies applied by the parties to asylum seekers. The ratio of the number of Syrian asylum seekers within the borders of the parties to their local populations is made. It is also tried to express which side assumes the responsibility to solve this issue with assessing the expenditure of both parties they have financed on Syrican asylum seekers. Another component of the comparison is the integration policies provided to asylum seekers. In this context, the rights provided to asylum seekers in areas such as education, work and health are evaluated. Finally, the practices of the parties are evaluated in the context of human rights. In this way, it is attempted to find an answer to the research question of the thesis and some findings are presented.