Abstract
The present study investigates major Turkish political party discourses about the Syrian refugees in Turkey based on parties’ manifestoes and pamphlets. The refugee problem increased nationalist feelings in Turkey specifically when the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, explained that the Syrians could be naturalized. To analyse this situation, we draw on theories on securitization and xenophobia. Political party discourses were analysed by Nvivo 11 software program. The results suggest that while the Justice and Development Party (AKP) uses historical–cultural and Islamic discourses, the CHP has an economic discourse. The MHP, the Turkish nationalist party, and the HDP, the Kurdish nationalist party, both deploy nationalist discourses. Members of the CHP claim that the Syrians are the source of major crimes and unemployment. The AKP adopts an Ensar–Muhacir (guest–host) discourse because of its Islamic approach to the refugees. Political parties in Turkey securitize the Syrian refugee crisis through their political discourses, which result in the rise of xenophobia in Turkey. The study suggests that political parties lead to the rise in anti-refugee attitude.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Peter Baker, Rise of Donald Trump Tracks Growing Debate Over Global Fascism, May 28, 2016, available on the New York Times website: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/world/europe/rise-of-donald-trump-tracks-growing-debate-over-global-fascism.html (accessed 17/08/2017).
Michael R. Gordon and Eric Schmitt, Trump to Arm Syrian Kurds, Even as Turkey Strongly Objects
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/09/us/politics/trump-kurds-syria-army.html (accessed 17/08/2017)
Muhacir means migrant.
For the numbers of Syrians under temporary protection, please refer to http://www.goc.gov.tr/icerik6/gecici-koruma_363_378_4713_icerik] as of August 2017 (accessed 17/08/2017).
Official website of the Presidency of Turkish Republic http://www.tccb.gov.tr/haberler/410/45574/suriyeli-kardeslerimize-vatandaslik-imkni-verecegiz.html (accessed 31/07/2017).
Available at http://www.milliyet.com.tr/bakan-celik-temel-hak-ve-ozgurlukler-adana-yerelhaber-1958640/(Accessed 01.08.2017).
Available at https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/world/europe/turkey-recep-tayyip-erdogan-migrants-european-union.html (Accessed 11.11.2018)
HT, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu: Suriyeliler bütün düzenimizi bozacak, March 12, 2016, available on the Haberturk newspaper at the website http://www.haberturk.com/gundem/haber/1208609-kemal-kilicdaroglu-suriyeliler-butun-duzenimizi-bozacak (accessed 17/08/2017).
Available at https://www.esgazete.com/siyaset/suriyelilere-degil-turklere-is-bulun-h20497.html (accessed on 17.08.2017).
BBC, Erdoğan’dan Türkiye’deki Suriyelilere vatandaşlık açıklaması, 03 July 2016, available on the BBC at the website http://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler/2016/07/160703_erdogan_suriyeliler (accessed 17/08/2017).
CHP, Seçim Beyannamesi, https://www.chp.org.tr/Public/0/Folder//52608.pdf (accessed 17/08/2017).
BBC, Who are the Turkmen in Syria?, available on the BBC, at the website http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34910389 (viewed 27/02/2017).
MHP, 09 January 2017, available on the MHP at the website https://www.mhp.org.tr/htmldocs/mhp/4198/mhp/Milliyetci_Hareket_Partisi_Genel_Baskan_Yardimcisi___Istanbul_Milletvekili_Sayin_Prof_Dr_E_Semih_YALCIN__in__MHP_Aleyhinde.html (accessed 17/08/2017).
AA, an MHP leader criticises Erdoğan’s offer of citizenship to Syrians, 12 July 2016, available on the Hurriyet Daily News at the website, http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/mhp-leader-criticizes-erdogans-offer-of-citizenship-to-syrians-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=101500&NewsCatID=338 (accessed 17/08/2017).
Devlet Bahceli, the speech of the MHP’s leader, Devlet Bahceli, on the Arab Spring and Ethnic Conflict in the region, 19 February 2013, available on the MHP website at https://www.mhp.org.tr/htmldocs/genel_baskan/konusma/2600/index.html (accessed 17/08/2017).
Verda Özer, Erdoğan details dual citizenship for Syrians, 11 July 2016, available on the Hurriyet Daily News at the website http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/erdogan-details-dual-citizenship-for-syrians.aspx?pageID=238&nID=101428&NewsCatID=341 (accessed 17/08/2017)
As noted in one Milliyet article on 06 July 2016: Mhp’den Suriyeli Mültecilere Vatandaşlık Eleştirisi, http://www.milliyet.com.tr/mhp-den-suriyeli-multecilere-vatandaslik-izmir-yerelhaber-1458945/ (accessed 17/08/2017).
As noted in one hurriyetdailynews article on 26 April 2013: Tarhan Erdem, How many Kurds live in Turkey?, available on the Hurriyet Dailynews at the website http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/how-many-kurds-live-in-turkey-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=45644&NewsCatID=396 (accessed 17/08/2017).
As noted in one bbcnews article on 14 March 2016, Who are the Kurds? available on the BBC at the website http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29702440 (accessed 17/08/2017).
As noted in an Evrensel article on 07 November 2013. Evrensel, Halkın Direnişi Utanç Duvarını Durdurdu, available in the Evrensel newspaper at the website https://www.evrensel.net/haber/71533/nusaybinde-on-binler-utanc-duvarina-karsi-toplandi (accessed 17/08/2017).
As noted in a Bianet article on 03October 2013, Ertugrul Kürkçü, Kürkçü: Suriye’de Laik, Çoğulcu, Çok Kimlikli Model İstiyoruz, available on the Bianet website http://bianet.org/bianet/siyaset/150385-kurkcu-suriye-de-laik-cogulcu-cok-kimlikli-model-istiyoruz (accessed 17/08/2017).
Rudaw news website, MHP states that the Kurds of PYD-YPG should be excluded from Afrin and Sochi negotiations. http://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/turkey/28112017 (accessed 08/02/2018)
Sputniknews, housing will be provided for 3.5 million Syrians in their homeland https://tr.sputniknews.com/turkiye/201802031032091524-suriyeliler-kalici-konut/ (accessed 08/02/2018)
Press conference of HDP Committee on the declaration of Rojava as the city of revolution and its second anniversary http://www.hdp.org.tr/tr/basin/basin-aciklamalari/hdp-myk-2-yilinda-rojava-devrimini-ve-koban%C3%AA-direnisini-selamliyoruz/4116 (accessed 08/02/2018)
Rudaw news website, upon a question to Kurdish member of parliament whether HDP regards the passage of Rojava peshmergas to Rojava Kurdistan he replies as “it is no more Rojava Kurdistan but Northern Syrian Federation” http://www.rudaw.net/turkish/kurdistan/040320177 (accessed 08/02/2018)
CHP Party Manifesto https://www.chp.org.tr/Public/0/Folder/52608.pdf (Accessed 13/02/2018)
Kemal Kılıcdaroglu, Parti Konusması, 19 Kasım 2013 https://www.chp.org.tr/Haberler/36/19-kasim-2013-tarihli-tbmm-grup-konusmasi-947.aspx (accessed 16.02.2018)
References
Akdogan, Y. (2003). Muhafazakar Demokrasi. Ankara: AK Parti Yayını.
Aktürk, Ş. (2017a). Post-imperial democracies and new projects of nationhood in Eurasia: transforming the nation through migration in Russia and Turkey. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(7), 1101–1120. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183x.2016.1246177.
Aktürk, Ş. (2017b). Turkey’s role in the Arab spring and the Syrian conflict. Turkish policy quarterly, 15(4), 87–96.
Altundeğer, N., & Yılmaz, E. (2016). İç Savaştan Bölgesel İstikrarsızlığa: Suriye Krizinin Türkiye’ye Faturası. Suleyman Demirel Universitesi Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences, 21(1), 289–301.
Altunışık, M., & Çuhadar, E. (2010). Turkey’s search for a third party role in Arab-Israeli conflicts: a neutral facilitator or a principal power mediator? Mediterranean Politics, 15(3), 371–392.
Aras, B. (2009). Turkey’s rise in the greater Middle East: peace building in the periphery. Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 11(1), 29–41.
Åtland, K., & Bruusgaard, K. V. (2009). When security speech acts misfire: Russia and the Elektron incident. Security Dialogue, 40(3), 333–353.
Bagdonas, Ö. D. (2014). Reading Turkey’s foreign policy on Syria: the AKP’s construction of a great power identity and the politics of grandeur. Turkish Studies, 15(1), 139–155.
Balzacq, T. (2005). The three faces of securitization: political agency, audience and context. European Journal of International Relations, 11(2), 171–201.
Barkey, H. J. (2014). Turkey’s Syria predicament. Survival, 56(6), 113–134.
Benvenuto, S. (2016). Xenophobia: is it something morbid? American Imago, 73(3), 367–379.
Bigo, D. (2000). When two become one: internal and external securitisations in Europe. In International relations theory and the politics of European integration: power, security and community (pp. 171–205). London: Routledge.
Bigo, D. (2002). Security and immigration: toward a critique of the governmentality of unease. Alternatives, 27(Special Issue), 63–92.
Brubaker, R. (1992). Citizenship and nationhood in France and Germany. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Bruinessen, M. V. (2016). Kurdish identities and Kurdish nationalisms in the early twenty-first century. In 21. Yüzyılda Milliyetçilik: Teori ve Siyaset (pp. 349–373). İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları.
Buonfino, A. (2004). Between unity and plurality: the politicization and securitization of the discourse of immigration in Europe. New Political Science, 26(1), 23–49.
Buzan, B., & Hansen, L. (2009). The Evolution of International Security Studies. Cambridge University Press.
Buzan, B., & Wæver, O. (2003). EU-Europe: the European Union and its ‘near abroad. In O. W. Barry Buzan (Ed.), Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security (pp. 352–376). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Buzan, B., Waever, O., & de Wilde, J. (1998). Security: a new framework for analysis. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Çakmak, C. (2016). Turkish–Syrian relations in the wake of the Syrian conflict: back to securitization. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 29(2), 695–717.
Carter, E. (2005). Extreme right in Western Europe: success or failure? Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Cebeci, E., & Üstün, K. (2012). The Syrian quagmire: what’s holding Turkey back? Insight Turkey, 14(2), 13.
Chilton, P. A., & Schäffner, C. (2002). Politics as Text and Talk: Analytic Approaches to Political Discourse. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Crouch, C. (2017). Neoliberalism, nationalism and the decline of political traditions. The Political Quarterly, 88(2), 221–229.
Dunmire, P. L. (2012). Political discourse analysis: exploring the language of politics and the politics of language. Language and Linguistics Compass, 6(11), 735–751. https://doi.org/10.1002/lnc3.365.
Ekmekci, F. (2011). Understanding Kurdish ethno-nationalism in Turkey: socio-economy, religion, and politics. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 34(9), 1608–1617. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2010.538425.
Elbakyan, E., & Davtyan, E. (2014). The Kurdish factor in Turkey-Syria relations (2012–2013).
Ellinas, A. A. (2013). The rise of golden dawn: the new face of the far right in Greece. South European Society and Politics, 18, 543–565.
Erdogan, M. M. (2014). Perceptions of Syrians in Turkey. Insight Turkey, 16(4), 65–75.
Erdogan, M. M. (2015). Türkiye’deki Suriyeliler: Toplumsal Kabul ve Uyum. İstanbul: İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları.
Erdogan, M. M. (2017). Kopuştan Uyuma Kent Mültecileri: Suriyeli Mülteciler ve Belediyelerin Süreç Yönetimi İstanbul Örneği. Istanbul.
Eroglu, D., Cohen, J. H., & Sirkeci, İ. (2016). Turkish migration 2016 selected papers. London: Transnational Press London.
Ete, H., Akbaba, Y., Dalay, G., Ersay, S. O., & Eşkinat, D. (2014). 2013’te Siyaset. İstanbul: SETA.
Fairclough, I., & Fairclough, N. (2013). Political discourse analysis: a method for advanced students. Routledge.
Güçtürk, Y. (2014). The Loss of Humanity: The Human Rights Dimension of the Civil War in Syria (G. K. Handan Öz, Trans.). İstanbul: SETA.
Gündüz, Z. Y. (2010). The European Union at 50—xenophobia, islamophobia and the rise of the radical right. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 30(1), 35–47.
Herrera, Y. M., & Kraus, N. M. B. (2016). Pride and prejudice: ethnicity, national identity, and xenophobia in Russia. Comparative Politics, 48, 293–315.
Hjerm, M. (1998). National identities, national pride and xenophobia: a comparison of four Western countries. Acta Sociologica, 41, 335–347.
Howard, M. M. (2010). The impact of the far right on citizenship policy in Europe: explaining continuity and change. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 36(5), 735–751.
Huysmans, J. (1998). Revisiting Copenhagen: or, on the creative development of a security studies agenda in Europe. European Journal of International Relations, 4(4), 479–505.
Huysmans, J. (2000). The European Union and the securitization of migration., 38(5), 751–777.
Huysmans, J. (2004). A Foucaultian view on spill-over: freedom and security in the EU. Journal of International Relations and Development, 7(3), 294–318.
Huysmans, J. (2006). The politics of insecurity: fear, migration and asylum in the EU. London: Routledge.
İçduygu, A. (2015). Syrian refugees in Turkey: the long road ahead. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute.
İçduygu, A., & Şimşek, D. (2016). Syrian refugees in Turkey: towards integration policies. Turkish Policy Quarterly, 15(3), 59–69.
Ihlamur-Öner, S. G. (2014). Türkiye’nin Suriyeli mültecilere yönelik politikası. Ortadoğu Analiz, 6(61), 42–45.
Jacoby, T., Mac Ginty, R., & Şenay, B. (2018). Islam, the state and Turkey’s Syrian refugees: the Vaiz of Bursa. Journal of Refugee Studies, fey025-fey025, https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fey025.
John, R. (2002). Ethnocentrism, ethnopreference, xenophobia peace in race relations—a new understanding. The Occidental Quarterly, 7(2), 1–25.
Jolly, S. K., & DiGiusto, G. M. (2014). Xenophobia and immigrant contact: French public attitudes toward immigration. The Social Science Journal, 51(4), 464–473.
Jones, L. (2011). Beyond securitization: explaining the scope of security policy in Southeast Asia. International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, 11(3), 403–432. https://doi.org/10.1093/irap/lcr002.
Keukeleire, S., & Raube, K. (2013). The security-development nexus and securitization in the EU’s policies towards developing countries. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 26(3), 556–572. https://doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2013.822851.
Kirişçi, K. (2016). Turkey’s role in the Syrian refugee crisis. Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, 17(2), 80–85.
Koca, B. T. (2016). Syrian refugees in Turkey: from “guests” to “enemies”? New Perspectives on Turkey, 54, 55–75.
Kosic, A., & Phalet, K. (2006). Ethnic categorization of immigrants: the role of prejudice, perceived acculturation strategies and group size. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 30, 769–782.
Krumpal, I. (2012). Estimating the prevalence of xenophobia and anti-semitism in Germany: a comparison of randomized response and direct questioning. Social Science Research, 41, 1387–1403.
Lazarev, E., & Sharma, K. (2017). Brother or burden: an experiment on reducing prejudice toward Syrian refugees in Turkey. Political Science Research and Methods, 5(2), 201–219. https://doi.org/10.1017/psrm.2015.57.
Leonard, S. (2010). EU border security and migration into the European Union: FRONTEX and securitisation through practices. European Security, 19(2), 231–254.
Lijphart, A., Özbudun, E., & Onulduran, E. (1984). Çağdaş demokrasiler: yirmibir ülkede çoğunlukçu ve oydaşmacı yönetim örüntüleri: Yetkin.
Memisoglu, F., & Ilgit, A. (2017). Syrian refugees in Turkey: multifaceted challenges, diverse players and ambiguous policies. Mediterranean Politics, 22(3), 317–338. https://doi.org/10.1080/13629395.2016.1189479.
Mudde, C. (2000). The ideology of the extreme right. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Mudde, C. (2007). Populist radical right parties in Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Murinson, A. (2006). The strategic depth doctrine of Turkish foreign policy. Middle Eastern Studies, 42(6), 945–964.
Nielsen, S. Y. (2016). Perceptions between Syrian refugees and their host community. Turkish Policy Quarterly, 15(3), 99–106.
Ocakli, F. (2017). Politics in the Kurdish periphery: clan networks and local party strategies in a comparative perspective. Middle Eastern Studies, 53(4), 571–584.
Oktav, Ö. Z., & Çelikaksoy, A. (2015). The Syrian refugee challenge and Turkey’s quest for normative power in the Middle East. Scholarly Essay, 70(3), 408–420.
Öniş, Z. (2014). Turkey and the Arab revolutions: boundaries of regional power influence in a turbulent Middle East. Mediterranean Politics, 19(2), 203–219. https://doi.org/10.1080/13629395.2013.868392.
Öniş, Z., & Yılmaz, Ş. (2016). Turkey and Russia in a shifting global order: cooperation, conflict and asymmetric interdependence in a turbulent region. Third World Quarterly, 37(1), 71–95.
Oudenhoven, J. P. V., Ward, C., & Masgoret, A.-M. (2006). Patterns of relations between immigrants and host societies. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 30, 637–651.
Özbudun, E. (2006). From political Islam to conservative democracy: the case of the Justice and Development Party in Turkey. South European Society & Politics, 11(3–4), 543–557.
Özbudun, E. (2011). Türkiye’de parti ve seçim sistemi: İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları.
Özden, Ş. (2013). Syrian refugees in Turkey. MPC Research Reports (Vol. 2013). San Domenico di Fiesole: Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies.
Rotte, R., & Steininger, M. (2000). Sozioökonomische Determinanten extremistischer Wahlerfolge in Deutschland: Das Beispiel der Europawahlen 1994 und 1999. IZA, 1–57.
Rygiel, K., Baban, F., & Ilcan, S. (2016). The Syrian refugee crisis: the EU-Turkey “deal” and temporary protection. Global Social Policy, 16(3), 315–320.
Steininger, M., & Rotte, R. (2009). Crime, unemployment, and xenophobia? An ecological analysis of right-wing election results in Hamburg, 1986–2005. Jahrbuch fur Regionalwissenschaf, 29, 29–63.
Talhamy, Y. (2010). The Fatwas and the Nusayri/Alawis of Syria. Middle Eastern Studies, 46(2), 175–194. https://doi.org/10.1080/00263200902940251.
Taras, R. (2012). Xenophobia and Islamophobia in Europe. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Van Dijk, T. A. (1997). Political discourse and racism: describing others in Western parliaments. In S. H. Riggins (Ed.), The Language and Politics of Exclusion: Others in Discourse (Communication and Human Values) (pp. 31–64). California: Thousand Oaks.
Van Dijk, T. A. (2002). Political discourse and ideology. In M. R. Clara Ubaldina Lorda (Ed.), Anàlisi del discurs polític (pp. 15–34). Barcelona: Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
Vuori, J. A. (2008). Illocutionary logic and strands of securitization: applying the theory of securitization to the study of non-democratic political orders. European Journal of International Relations, 14, 65–99.
Wæver, O. (1995). Securitization and desecuritization. In On security (pp. 46–87). New York: Columbia University Press.
Williams, M. H. (2010). Can leopards change their spots? Between xenophobia and trans-ethnic populism among west European far right parties. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 16(1), 111–134.
Yılmaz, F. (2012). Right-wing hegemony and immigration: how the populist far-right achieved hegemony through the immigration debate in Europe. Current Sociology, 60(3), 368–381.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gulmez, R. The Securitization of the Syrian Refugee Crisis Through Political Party Discourses. Int. Migration & Integration 20, 887–906 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-018-0637-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-018-0637-2