The Turkish Migration and Asylum Law 

People on the Move (Episode 2)

Do we call them foreigners, refugees, conditional refugees or beneficiaries?

Before the refugee influx, Turkey did not have a uniform legal framework and a centralised national policy on migration and asylum. The massive surge of Syrian asylum seekers crossing the borders caused an urgent need for legal regulations in this field. As a result, two new legal regulations are enacted sequentially: the Law on Foreigners and International Protection (LFIP)[1] and the Temporary Protection Regulation (TPR)[2].

The LFIP is the principal regulation of the Turkish migration and asylum law. It codifies the entry, exit, stay and return conditions and the conditions of international protection in the country. It also establishes a central state agency; the Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM) to manage migration and asylum. Temporary Protection Regulation (TPR) is enacted by the Council of Ministers in 2014 exclusively for those fleeing from Syria. Both legal regulations are modelled after the relevant EU legislation. 

The LFIP defines all nationals who are not Turkish citizens as “foreigners”. It does not define the term “migrant”, but it defines regular and irregular migration. Therefore, in the context of Turkish law regular migrants can be defined as foreigners who enter and stay in or exit from the country in compliance with the national law. Whereby irregular migrants are those who entered the country unauthorised, who stay or work without a valid permit and/or who were not granted international protection.

Turkish asylum law provides four types of international protection: 1- the refugee status, 2- the conditional refugee status, 3- the subsidiary protection and 4- the temporary protection.

The LFIP’s definition of the term “refugee” is identical to the definition under the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of the Refugees (1951 Convention)[3]. However, Turkey maintained the geographical limitation in the 1951 Convention and therefore grants refugee status only to those coming from Europe. The LFIP Article 61 defines the term refugee as: 

A person who as a result of events occurring in European countries and owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his citizenship and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it, shall be granted refugee status upon completion of the refugee status determination process[4].

For those who come outside Europe, the LFIP provides “conditional refugee” status which provides the same criteria as the refugee status, but the beneficiaries are allowed to stay in Turkey only until they are resettled in a third country. The resettlement takes place under the coordination of the Directorate.

Subsidiary protection is provided for those who neither fall under the scope of refugee nor conditional refugee, but whose life and corporal integrity will be at risk in case they return to their home country or country of habitual residence.

Temporary protection is separate from these three international protection types. It is concerned with a mass influx where people arrive or cross Turkish borders due to having been forced to leave their country en masse and cannot return. It guarantees the observance of the principle of non-refoulment for the beneficiaries and provides the right to health and education as well as the right to access to labour markets, social assistance and interpretation services. According to the statistics of the DGMM, there are 3.761.267 Syrian nationals under temporary protection in Turkey as of date: 07.04.2022[5].

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[1] Yabancılar ve Uluslararası Koruma Kanunu, 4/4/2013, Sayı 28615, RG.11/04/2013, Consolidated version: https://www.lexpera.com.tr/mevzuat/kanunlar/yabancilar-ve-uluslararasi-koruma-kanunu-6458 

[2] Geçici Koruma Yönetmeliği, 13/10/2014, Sayı. 2014/6883, RG.22/10/2014, No: 29153, Consolidated version: https://www.lexpera.com.tr/mevzuat/yonetmelikler/gecici-koruma-yonetmeligi-2014-6883

[3] Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees; https://immigrationhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Refugee-Protocol.pdf

[4] Law on Foreigners and International Protection, (unofficial translation of the UNHCR), Law No : 6458, Date:4/4/2013, OJ.11/4/2013 Issue 28615; https://www.unhcr.org/tr/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2017/04/LoFIP_ENG_DGMM_revised-2017.pdf

[5] “Temporary Protection”, T.C. İçişleri Bakanlığı Göç İdaresi Başkanlığı; https://en.goc.gov.tr/temporary-protection27, (reference date: 14.04.2022)