Publication | | Migration

EU-Turkey Relations and Irregular Migration: Transactional Cooperation in the Making

							Publication Date						
March 30, 2018

Authors

															Angeliki Dimitriadi
															Ayhan KAYA
															Başak KALE
															Tinatin ZURABISHVILI
																				

Project

														The future of EU-Turkey relations: Mapping dynamics and testing scenarios (FEUTURE)

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The aim of the paper is twofold. First, to outline the relationship of the EU and Turkey in the field of irregular migration and present the main drivers that underpin the relations from 1999 to 2017. While acknowledging that emphasis on irregular migration is given particularly post-2011, the paper argues that the dynamics characterising the relationship between Turkey and the EU do not change significantly in the pre-and post-2011 period. Secondly, the paper presents the most likely of the three scenarios – conflict, cooperation, and convergence – in the area of irregular migration drawing from the drivers of the past and present in the EU, Turkey, but also the Southern neighbourhood and beyond. The paper argues that though conflict is unlikely, equally so is convergence, with a model of transactional operational cooperation more likely and reflective of EU-Turkey relation on irregular migration management.

Read the paper here.

Angeliki Dimitriadi from Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) introduces FEUTURE Online Paper No. 16 “EU-Turkey Relations and Irregular Migration: Transactional Cooperation in the Making”