Refugees Law and Policy in Turkey Refugees Law and Policy | Seite 3

WELCOME TO MY CITY
General Background
In the not too distant past, Turkey was viewed
primarily as “a country of emigration (or migrant-
sending country) and a source country for asylum
seekers. With the advent of the new century,
however, Turkey has seen changing migration
patterns with respect to irregular labor migrants,
transit migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, and
regular migrants. Over the past two decades, “as
a result of intense migratory movements,” Turkey
has emerged as a “transit country,” and morphed
from a country of emigration to one of immigration.
Some Major Laws and Policies
Applicable to Refugees
A. Law on Settlement
Between 1934 and 2006, Turkey’s Law on
Settlement, Law No. 2510, regulated the formal
settlement of foreigners in Turkey, “[restricting] the
right of asylum and immigration only to the persons
of ‘Turkish descent and culture. When a new Law
on Settlement was adopted in 2006, the emphasis
on that background was retained, and so “it is
understood that in Turkey, the channel of facilitated
formal settlement, which also leads to citizenship in
a short period of time, is still reserved for the
individuals of such groups.
B. Law on Foreigners and International
Protection
It was not until the 1950s, when Turkey joined the
newly created UN Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees (it also subsequently adopted
the Convention’s 1967 Protocol), that Turkey had
any specific legislation on migration management
other than the Settlement Law of 1934. In 1999,
Turkey reached a turning point in its bid for
A boat full of Syrian refugees trying to reach European countries.
accession to the European Union, and thereafter it
began to introduce a new policies and laws, among
them the 2005 National Action Plan for Adoption of
Acquis on Asylum and Migration, aimed at
modernizing the country’s legal structure on
migration. In April 2013, the Law on Foreigners and
International Protection (LFIP), “the first inclusive
and updated act about migration-related issues,”
was adopted; it became effective in April 2014.
C. Temporary Protection Regulation
On October 22, 2014, the Temporary Protection
Regulation was issued. It pertains to, among other
matters,
temporary protection proceedings that may be
provided to foreigners, who were forced to leave
their countries and are unable to return to the
countries they left and arrived at or crossed our
borders in masses to seek urgent and temporary
protection and whose international protection
requests cannot be taken under individual
assessment.