Migration and asylum management strategy of Turkey: Kilis review

The phenomenon of migration, which is as old as the history of humanity, is a common interest and field of study among the disciplines of social sciences, affects the public order and social stability of the immigrant societies and states with its increasing diversity and volume in today's changing conditions. The issue of migration and asylum as interest and focus of society, state and interstate organisations is recently included in the field of public policy sphere and service. The fact that states and societies have the capacity to manage migration proportional to the burden of migration is important opportunity for the transformation of the migration burden into socio-economic development as well as necessary in terms of ensuring public order and social stability. The subject of the research is the change in the migration and asylum strategy that Turkey has followed since the establishment of the Republic, and the adequacy of the Migration Administration, which is the symbol of this change, in mass migrations through Kilis examination.Within the scope of the research, the information obtained through the literature review was made the basis of the suggestions developed on the subject of migration and asylum, by gaining a meaningful integrity with the findings collected from the field with the qualitative and quantitative research method. In this sense, While Turkey's migration and asylum history and strategy are examined, it is seen that the internal legal regulations and bilateral and multi-level agreements and contracts to which it is a party are determined in line with the migration and asylum strategy. Turkey's immigration and asylum strategy, embodied in the population exchanges and Settlement Law right after the proclamation of the Republic, aims to create and protect a nation-state identity by preserving it with the 1951 Geneva Convention and 1967 Additional Protocol thereafter. However, changing internal needs and external conditions have prepared the necessary ground for change by reviewing the current migration management strategy and practices. As a result, the changing internal needs of Turkey as a country of immigration and the overlapping with the increasing influence of external factors have led to extensive changes in the field of migration and asylum. The aforementioned change in the Turkish migration and asylum management strategy became concrete with the enactment of the independent immigration law, Foreigners and International Protection Law (YUKK), and the establishment of the specialized institution Migration Management. These changes are also a milestone in the history of immigration and asylum. However, despite the changes in the Turkish asylum and migration management strategy, on the one hand, the refugee door continues to be kept closed to the immigrants originating from the East, which is the main basis of the migration and asylum strategy, on the other hand, there are important problematic areas that overshadow the process of change in the field of migration and asylum. In this sense, although Turkey formally preserves the principle of not accepting the burden of refugees originating from the East, which forms the basis of its migration strategy, it is a contradictory situation that it actually allows those who took refuge in its country as de facto refugees for many years, as in the past, with humanitarian considerations, as in the recent 2011 Syrian Crisis. Therefore, the endless hospitality process of Syrian refugees is against the official migration and asylum strategy, as well as the negative effects and consequences of this situation on public order and social stability, causing the migration and asylum management to be questioned. In this sense, as a response to the Turkish immigration and asylum management set-up and practice, in response to the adequacy in mass migration management, the migration management over Kilis province, which welcomes the most asylum seekers compared to its population, has been examined.Within the scope of this research, while analyzing the Syrian Refugees issue, which is at the center of current debates, on the one hand, the 'Migration Theories' perspective is used, on the other hand, the adequacy of the current migration management in Kilis province, which is most affected by the refugee problem, is examined. In the light of the information and findings obtained from the Kilis province study, suggestions have been developed regarding the Migration Management central and provincial organization, which is the carrier of the new era migration and asylum management strategy. Keywords: Migration and Asylum Administration, Migration and Asylum Administration Strategy, Kilis Mass Migration Administration