The ultimate border between the East and the West
The EU-Turkey statement, a milestone for the refugration-border nexus in the EU-Turkey relations
Abstract
The worst humanitarian crisis that we are currently watching has prompted to a rise of refugration
flows in today’s globalised world. During the European refugrant crisis the EU external borders
were under pressure and the EU had to find partners to help to secure its borders, as solidarity
inside the EU was not enough to carry good management of the refugration flows that were
arriving at EU doors. The EU-Turkey statement of 18 March 2016, permitted the EU and its
member states to regain control of its Southeastern borders and it as turned Turkey into the
ultimate border between the East and the West. As the EU is focused on containing and reducing
the refugration flows at its external borders by all costs, it has forgotten to advocate for human
rights in its neighbouring countries and to respect the human rights of the refugrants. Thus, this
master thesis explored the role that the nexus between the border security and the refugration
management plays at the EU-Turkey relations. In addition, it was explored how the EU-Turkey
statement has affected the EC discourse regarding the deteriorating situation of human rights in
Turkey. The study concludes that the EU-Turkey statement has been an important policy tool in
promoting the refugration-border nexus in the EU-Turkey relations and that the EU-Turkey
statement has affected the EC discourse about the current situation of human rights in Turkey.
Degree
Student essay
Collections
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Date
2019-08-07Author
Lopes Paulos, Fábio Rúben
Keywords
Borders
Borderscape
European Commission
European Union
Europeanisation
EU-Turkey statement
Human Rights
Migration
Turkey
Refugees
Refugrants
Refugration
Securitisation of Migration
Series/Report no.
Global Studies
2019:02
Language
eng