The effect of religion on shaping immigration policies in Türkiye

Migrations can change the social structure due to the cultural, social, ethnic, and religious affiliations of immigrants. Migrations played an important role in the emergence of new nation-states and the nation building process before and after the First World War. The immigration policies of the countries were largely shaped in accordance with the nation building process. While many states received immigration that supported the nation-building process, they also enforced unwanted groups to migrate from their countries. The nation-state building of the Republic of Turkey was tried to be achieved with the migrations that took place before and after 1923. Anatolian lands hosted Muslim and non-Muslim migrations in this direction. In this study, the migrations that took place in Turkey during the one-party period (1923-1950) were examined by comparative method within the historical process. The study consists of two parts. In the first part, the Muslim migrations toward Turkey is examined. In the second part, the attitude of the Turkish state toward the migration of non-Muslims is examined. Through examining the migrations of Muslims and non-Muslims, the impact of religion on the shaping of migration policies in the single-party period in Turkey has been tried to be analyzed. As a result of this study, it has been determined that the Republic of Turkey exhibits two different attitudes towards Muslims and non-Muslims in immigration, and that religious affiliation rather than ethnic affiliation is a determining factor in the construction of the nation-state. Keywords: Religion, Immigration, Nation-state, One-Party Period, Immigration Policies