THE NEO-OTTOMAN TURN IN TURKEY'S REFUGEE RECEPTION DISCOURSE

Göçmen kabul eden toplumlar kendi anlayışlarına göre önemli buldukları farklılaşma eksenlerine göre göçmenlere sınır koyarlar. Bu makale, güncel mülteci akını bağlamında siyasi karar vericilerin tercihlerini ve gerekçelerini değerlendirerek, Türkiye'nin kendi kimliğini tanımlayış biçimini ve göçmenlere karşı tutumunu analiz etmektedir. Suriyeli mültecilere yönelik dini kardeşlik bağının vurgulanması ve misafirperverliği açıklarken dine atıfta bulunmasından yola çıkarak, Türkiye'de kimliğin anahtar değişkeni olarak dinin öne çıktığını ve neo-Osmanlı dönüşümün yaşandığını iddia etmektedir. Ayrıca, Suriyeli mültecilerin Türkiye'de tolere edilmesi gereken geçici misafirler olarak görüldüğünü; toplumun daimi üyeleri olarak kabul edilmediklerini öne sürmektedir. Dolayısıyla Türkiye, dışarıdan gelenlere sınır koyarken, toplumun homojen özünü korumayı amaçlamakta ve göçmenlerin toplumla kaynaşma sürecinde asimilasyonist yöntemler kullanmaktadır. Genel olarak bu araştırma, toplumun hakim öz-imgesinin göçmenlere yönelik tutumlar gibi konularda siyasi karar mekanizmalarını nasıl etkilediğini göstermekte ve toplumsal sınırlar ve kategorilerin ortaya çıkma ve çözülme sürecine ışık tutmaktadır. Ayrıca, bu makale, günümüz Türk toplumunun durumuna ilişkin ve gelecekte hangi yöne gidebileceğine dair işaretler sunmaktadır.

TÜRKİYE'NİN MÜLTECİ KABUL POLİTİKASINDA NEO-OSMANLI DÖNÜŞÜM

Host societies typically draw boundaries towards immigrants on the basis of specific axes of diversity that are important to their self-understanding. This article analyses Turkey's selfdefinition and resulting treatment of immigrants in the context of the current refugee influx by evaluating choices and justifications of political decision-makers. It argues that the highlighting of religious brotherhood towards Syrian refugees and the use of religious arguments to justify hospitality point to a recurrence of religion as key variable of identification in Turkish society and provides evidence for a neo-Ottoman turn. Furthermore, it suggests that Syrian refugees in Turkey are mainly treated as temporary guests who are tolerated, rather than seen as permanent members of society. Thereby, Turkey highlights a boundary towards outsiders and protects a homogenous core, thus employing aspects of an assimilationist mode of immigrant incorporation. Overall, this research outlines how the underlying self-image can find relevance in political decisionmaking such as the treatment of immigrants and thus sheds light on how boundaries and social categories are created and dissolved. It furthermore provides an indication of the state of contemporary Turkish society, which constitutes a foundation for future assessment on the direction it might be heading.

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