EU Migration Management and Externalization: The Case of Turkey-EU Cooperation

Abstract

European Union countries have become one of the main migratory destinations in the last century. Issues related to migration were within the scope of the States, but with the development of the European project, the powers of supranational institutions in the Union in these areas have increased. An intergovernmental approach has long been favored in EU migration policies and a partial common policy has developed over time. The EU has built its migration policies from a security perspective and has preferred to manage migration with externalization, especially for the past thirty years. Due to the migration crisis caused by the Syrian civil war, cooperation with Turkey has been an important part of the externalization of EU migration policies. In the EU-Turkey statement on migration on March 18, 2016, both parties agreed to prevent migration flow to Europe from the migration crisis in 2015, and it was presented as a success. However, the legal nature and various aspects of this statement have generated much debate. This cooperation took place through informal methods and is an important example in terms of the externalization of EU migration policies.