Page 24 - IO1-Report

KA201 - Strategic Partnerships for School Education
The Universal Language of Mathematics (2018-1-TR01-KA201-059704)

3. Turkey: situation, good practices, and survey analysis

3.1. Overview of flight and migration in Turkey

In the first 60 years since its foundation in the year 1923, the Republic of Turkey was politically perceived
as a migrant sending country until early 1980s and not a country of immigration. The emigration and
labour migration of Turkish nationals to Western Europe in the 1960s and 1970s has continued, e.g. in
the form of family reunification, until more recently. Therefore, the government in that period has not
considered to develop effective migration policies (İçduygu & Keyman, 2000). In the last quarter of the
20th century, however, a significant change has emerged in Turkey's role as a country of migration and
the country increasingly has become a transit and immigration country. (Içduygu/Sert 2009) Turkey has
become a transit point for irregular migrants from Asian countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iraq,
Iran and Pakistan who wanted to reach the West. Furthermore, both regular and irregular migrants
from former Soviet republics have been coming to the country. Moreover, since the 1980s, Turkey has
started to become a migrant receiving country especially from the Middle Eastern and African Countries.
Until nowadays, Turkey faces various types of immigration. There is a high rate of emigration to Europe
because of economic reasons, there are asylum seekers trying to find a safe shelter in Turkey and there
are other types of asylum seekers who use Turkey as a transit country to be able to immigrate to a third
country due to Turkey’s geographical location (İçduygu & Keyman, 2000).
Looking at refuge and flight, the radical shift in Turkey have resulted in some changes in its migration
policy. Turkey approved the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees on 29 August 1961. The
international treaty initially defined the status of refugees on conditions of "the incidents that happened
in Europe before 1951". However, in 1967, this limitation was lifted in 1967 with the Protocol on the
Legal Status of Refugees. Turkey approved this amendment in 1968 but only under the condition of
geographical boundaries. This meant that Turkey accepts people with the status of refugee escaping
from human rights violation only from Europe but not from countries of other continents. In 1994,
Turkey has started to implement a new regulation on asylum seekers entitled “Regulation on the
Procedures and the Principles Related to Mass Influx and the Foreigners Arriving in Turkey or Requesting
Residence Permits with the Intention of Seeking Asylum from a Third Country”. With the implementation
of this new regulation, Turkey has developed tools and regulations to deal with the non-European
asylum seekers (İçduygu & Keyman, 2000). “In 2019, Turkey remained home to the largest registered
refugee population in the world, with over four million people. Nearly 3.6 million Syrians —including
over 1.6 million children— are under temporary protection, 98 percent of whom live in host communities.
In addition, Turkey remains a leading transit country for unregistered refugees and migrants on the
move. In 2019, over 183,000 people —primarily Afghans, Syrians and Iraqis— attempted to cross by
sea and land from Turkey into the EU, a nearly 70 percent increase over 2018.” (UNICEF, 2019)

21