Fall 2017 JPI

like its predecessors. It also promised market liberalization, global economic integration and
privatization. Such properties were novel for those on the pious side of politics in Turkey, who were
never able to integrate capitalism into their political standing. Both the economic and social policies
of former Islamist parties were starkly different, emphasizing piety and conservatism. In its initial term
between 2002 and 2007, the JDP passed many amendments to the existing legal structure which lead
to democratic reforms, the recognition of certain groups that were denied by every government until
then, and a general air of liberalization. These changes were partly motivated by the possibility of EU
accession, and most of the constitutional changes were suggested by the EU itself. Such policies
garnered unprecedented support from the liberal leftist intellectuals for a right-wing pious party. 9 The
JDP’s efforts during its first two terms towards reconciliation with the Kurdish, 10 Alevi 11 and non-
Muslim populations, suggested that the JDP could be a more inclusive party than its competition on
either the right or the left sides of the Turkish political spectrum. Gradually, the JDP adopted a more
Islamic and Turkish-nationalist stance, halting the reconciliation processes. However, this did not
immediately translate into its migration policies, which makes the JDP very different than its European
counterparts. The JDP’s shift toward a political stance favoring Turco-Islamic elements in its internal
policies coincided with the eruption of civil war in Syria, which lead Turkey to host an unprecedented
3.1 million immigrants. 12
As the party took on a neo-Ottoman foreign policy, which required it to become the
powerhouse of the region and started to emphasize the identity of “the Turk” as opposed to “beingfrom-Turkey”
(Türklük, implying a specific ethnicity instead of Türkiyelilik, which is solely based on
being a citizen of Turkey), it paradoxically opened its doors to Syrian asylum-seekers. This ended up
in the creation of another major ethnic group in Turkey, and the paradigm of Turkish national identity,
which, at best, tends to ignore elements that are not Turkish and Sunni Islamic, directed its
exclusionary nature towards this new ethnic group as it became increasingly visible.
Its stance toward immigration makes the JDP different than the right-wing parties in Europe.
This became visible with the emergence of the Syrian refugee crisis. As exemplified in the Erdogan
quote above, the Turkish government followed an “open-door policy” since the beginning of the civil
war in Syria. However, the flows have had changing patterns. Until 2013, Syrian asylum-seekers
predominantly resided in refugee camps close to the Turkish-Syrian border which were funded by the
government and various International NGOs. Yet with the prolonged warfare and the resulting influx
of asylum-seekers, the limited capacity of these camps was overwhelmed. This urged many Syrian
asylum seekers to move toward larger urban areas including Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir, beginning in
2013. 13 For many, Turkey was a convenient transit point to the EU, while many others viewed it as
the final destination. 14
9 Cihan Tuğal, Passive Revolution: Absorbing the Islamic Challenge to Capitalism. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2009.
10Cuma Çiçek, "Elimination or integration of pro-Kurdish politics: Limits of the AKP's democratic initiative" in The Kurdish Question in Turkey:
New Perspectives on Violence, Representation and Reconciliation, edited by Cengiz Güneş and Welat Zeydanlıoğlu, 245-57. Exeter Studies in Ethno
Politics. New York, NY: Routledge, 2014.
11 Soner, Bayram Ali, and Şule Toktaş, "Alevis and Alevism in the Changing Context of Turkish Politics: The Justice and Development Party's Alevi
Opening" in Turkish Studies 12, no. 3 (2011): 419-34. Accessed December 12, 2016. doi:10.1080/14683849.2011.604214.
12 UNHCR, "Syria Regional Refugee Response." United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. November 30, 2017. Accessed December 8, 2017.
http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/country.php?id=224.
13 Ahmet İçduygu, Syrian Refugees in Turkey: The Long Road Ahead. Report. April 2015. Accessed December 15, 2016.
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/syrian-refugees-turkey-long-road-ahead.
14 Ibid., 5.
JPI Fall 2017, pg. 22