| dc.description.abstract | COMPASSION BEYOND BORDERS OR REALPOLITIC? A study of Turkey s responses to the large-scale refugee flow in the aftermath of the Gulf war 1991
The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait 2 August 1990 and the subsequent UN sanctioned war against Iraq in the first months of 1991 generated one of the largest mass displacements of people in recent times. The largest mass movement of people the Gulf conflict set in motion was the flight of up to two million Iraqi Kurds towards Turkey and Iran after the failed Kurdish uprising at the end of March 1991. Around 700,000 of these fled to the Turkish border.
The special geo-political situation of Turkey makes the state s considerations regarding how to respond to the large-scale refugee flow different than that of the other receiving countries during the Gulf crisis. Turkey s security considerations regarding its own Kurdish minority, and its formal accession to refugee conventions in international law, indicate a very restrictive immigration policy, while the tradionally close ties Turkey has had to the Western countries indicate an obligation to respond to the refugees in a more hospitable manner. I have in this study attempted to explain the responses of Turkey to the large-scale refugee flow, in answering how Turkey responded and why Turkey responded to the refugees in the way it did.
Turkey first responded to the refugees in a hostile manner, and attempted to close the border to the refugees. Subsequently, Turkey seemed to change to a more humanitarian approach by criticizing Iraq for having persecuted its Kurdish minority, and by making the refugee problem a subject of discussion in the Security Council, which increased the international community s involvement in finding a solution to the refugee problem. The most significant change of response came by Turkey s decision to open the border to the majority of the refugees, and by it suggesting a safe haven in Iraq for the refugees, which in the end proved to solve the difficult situation for the refugees. The types of responses Turkey initiated to the refugees showed that a humanitarian approach actually outweighed a restrictive approach to the refugees, in other words that Turkey let «compassion beyond borders» responses outweigh its initial «realpolitik» response; to use the terminology of this study.
In an attempt to determine Turkey s motives behind the responses several response determinants that are generally believed to influence the response pattern of recipient countries were used as a basis for discussion. I found that Turkey s initial «realpolitik» decision to close the border to the refugees primarily was a decision taken in view of the Kurdish refugees ethnic and political characteristics, because Turkey had a low-scale insurgency going on among its own Kurdish minority. Turkey feared that the achievements of the Iraqi Kurds might have a dangerous demonstration effect upon the Turkish Kurds, and that it risked the country s internal stability by admitting the refugees. This was especially so because of the large-scale number of refugees, and a decision taken in hindsight of Turkey s previous experiences with refugee influxes.
Turkey s change of response showed that the government let considerations for Turkey s international reputation outweigh considerations for its internal stability when it decided to open the border to the refugees. The mass media had covered the situation well, and several sources pointed to the fact that criticism of Turkey s reluctant relief work, and the internationalization of the refugee problem, to a large extent put pressure on Turkey to admit the refugees because of the negative effect this mention might have had upon Turkey s long-term interests. Turkey s long-term interests, in particular its wish to become a full member in the EC, had largely directed the Turkish president in his efforts to align Turkey s Gulf war policy to that of the West, which seemed to suggest that Turkey s foreign policy considerations in relation to the West was its paramount national interest behind its decision to open the border; in other words that realpolitical motives triggered a compassionate response to the refugees. | nor |