The Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS)

Turkish Migration Studies Group (TurkMiS)

The Turkish Migration Studies Group (TurkMiS) at the University of Oxford is a platform for researchers, students and other stakeholders interested in migration issues in, from, and through Turkey and its neighbourhood.

TurkMiS was established in 2010 under the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) and aims to facilitate the production and dissemination of scholarly knowledge with the view to informing scholars, policy makers and society.

TurkMiS is convened by Dr. Franck Düvell, Senior Researcher, Centre on Migration, Policy and Society, Oxford University.

More about TurkMiS

News

The latest international news about Turkish migration

New 'Law on Foreigners and International protection approved by parliament'

On 4 April, the new 'Law on Foreigners and International Protection' ( in Turkish/ an unofficial English version) passed the Grand National Assembly, the parliament, of Turkey (see Hurriyet). This is a long-awaited and historic moment in the Turkish asylum and migration policy field. So far, there was no comprehensive immigration legislation and no law on refugees, an issue that was only regulated by secondary legislation (i.e. regulations and circulars). The new law regulates visa, entry, immigration, permission to work, migrants' social rights, asylum and law enforcement (i.e. deportation) matters. It maintains, as expected, the geographic reservation for refugees which largely is a response to the EU's policy in this field tending to turn it's neighbours into 'buffer zones' for unwanted migrants and refugees. It took almost 5 years of preparation by the Bureau for the Development and Implementation of Asylum and Migration Legislation and Strengthening the Administrative Capacity, the Ministry of Interior, under its director Attila Toros and two years of drafting the law and involved contributions of many stakeholders to get to this point. The new law will enter into force later this year. The format of the according institution, the General Directorate of Migration, is still unclear.

This law is not simply a response to requests from the EU made in course of the accession process, notably the 2005 Action plan for the adoption of EU legislation but has developed a dynamic on its own.

The new law is positively received by EU institutions. The UNHCR also welcomes the 'humanitarian values and principles’. The next step will be the implementation of the law which involves setting up an according institutional structure, rolling it out nation-wide and training staff. This will be a Herculean task and cannot be expected to be achieved over night; hence it will probably take some more years until the full effect of this law can be seen. For academics, this, i.e. legal and institutional reform, is not only exciting to study but also an opportunity for offering constructive and sometimes also inevitably critical comments and support.

More news

EVENTS

Latest Publications

TurkMiS Briefing Series

December 2012, Öktem, K., From soft power to soft borders: Crisis management and migration flows in Turkey

Journals and books

Secil Elitok & Thomas Straubhaar (eds.) (2012, Turkey, migration and the EU: potentials, challenges and opportunities, Hamburg: Hamburg University Press (the complete book is available online)

Ersanilli, Evelyn (2012) 'Model(ling) citizens? Integration Policies and Value Integration of Turkish Immigrants and Their Descendants in Germany, France, and the Netherlands', Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies 10(3), pp 338-358. 

Lemberg-Pedersen, Martin (2012) 'Private Security Companies and the European Borderscapes.' In Nyberg Sørensen and Gammeltoft-Hansen (eds) "The Migration Industry: the Commercialization of International Migration," London, New York: Routledge's Global Institutions Series.



Lemberg-Pedersen, Martin (2012) 'Forcing Flows of Migrants: European Externalization and Border-Induced Displacement.' In Andersen, Klatt and Sandberg (eds) "The Border Multiple: The Practicing of Borders between Public Policy and Everyday Life in Europe. London: Ashgate's Border Regions Series.



Lemberg-Pedersen, Martin (2011) 'Solidarity (In)action.' In Tidsskriftet Politik, Vol.14, No.4: 27-34

Reports and Documents

Policy Brief 1, 2/2011
Migration Potential to the UK in the Context of EU Accession: Background
(Evidence to the House of Commons by Franck Duvell)

Implications for the Justice and Home Affairs area of the accession of Turkey to the European Union
House of Commons/Home Affairs Committee
Written evidence submitted by Dr Franck Düvell 

More Publications

Turkish nationals abroad

Here you can find a selection of recent publications (and other resources) concerning Turkish nationals abroad.

Migration and Asylum in Turkey

A selection of reports and other publications

Current Research

PhD research

Martin Lemberg-Pedersen (2012), Externalization and Border-induced Displacement: A critical assessment of the European Borderscapes, Copenhagen: University of Copenhagen, 196 pages.

Özerim, Mehmet Gökay, Radical Right Parties in Europe and Anti-Immigration: The Construction of Anti-Immigration Discourse in the Context of Security Themes

People

Franck Düvell (Project) ◊ Kristen Biehl ◊ Cameron Thibos (Project) ◊ Yasemin Akis (Project) ◊ K. Onur Unutulmaz (Project) ◊Meral Acikgöz (Project) ◊ John McManus ◊ Esra Kayatz (Project) ◊ Martin Lemberg-Pedersen (Project) ◊ Mathieu Ichou (Project) ◊ Siddik Baki (Project) ◊ Ben Gidley ◊ Deniz Eroglu (Project) ◊ Cavidan Soykan (Project) ◊ Cansu Akbas ◊ Derya Ozkul (Project) ◊ Helene De Clerk (Project) ◊ Murat Güvenç (Project) ◊ Özge Aktaş ◊ Giovanna Marconi (Project) ◊ Zeynep Engin (Project) ◊ Aysegul Kayaoglu ◊ Marieke Wissink (Project) ◊ Birgitte Suter (Project) ◊ Isil E. Kalafat (Project) ◊ Evelyn Ersanilli ◊ Atakan Durmaz