The Place and Importance of Turkey in Afghan Refugee Migration

Abstract

Anatolia has been the scene of massive refugee influxes due to different reasons in different periods from the past to the present because of its geographical location. Besides, there have been also refugee transits from some African countries, especially Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. This is because Turkey is located at the point where the Asian, European and African continents come closest to each other, and it is a transit country which bridges Asia and Europe. Although Turkey has been a transit country in recent years, it has also started to be a target country. Thus, immigrants come to Turkey from African and Middle Eastern countries. Iran's reluctance to prevent refugee crossings (as it does not take effective precautions) and the rugged border between Turkey and Iran increase the refugee inflows on this route. The main target of both individual and mass migrations is to pass to western countries. However, if immigrants cannot go to these countries, they start to live in Turkey. This study focuses on refugees’ efforts for going to Western countries or settling in Turkey due to the conflict and chaos that occurred at different times in Afghanistan. In recent years, the issue of migration and refugees has gained more importance as a result of the instability in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, and the high number of Syrians under temporary protection status. Due to the economic problems in the world and in Turkey, economic conditions have weakened, and people’s perspectives towards refugees have also changed.