Sengul, Irem (2019) Rethinking temporary protection in Turkey : legality, uncertainty and homemaking in the city of Gaziantep. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The pervasiveness of prolonged displacement in the contemporary era reveals that the international refugee regime and its durable solutions do not provide meaningful opportunities for addressing displacement, while the temporality of refugee protection is increasingly the norm. In the global shift towards re-temporalisation, ‘temporary protection’ has been developed as one possible contemporary ‘solution’ for handling large-scale displacements. This thesis engages critically with the category of temporary protection under the Turkish model, by combining different levels of analysis: (i) the exploration of the development of temporary protection in the international refugee regime; (ii) its (re)construction in the Turkish national context for Syrian refugees since 2011; and, (iii) its dynamics in practice in the city of Gaziantep—which has become one of the important sites of refuge for Syrian refugees, and a hub for humanitarian interventions. The thesis also explores the roles of different actors (state, humanitarian sector, refugees) in shaping the practice of temporary protection in Turkey. The research utilises documentary and archival material (soft-law instruments on temporary protection and Turkish domestic laws), legal analysis, and qualitative empirical data, conducted with semi-structured interviews and participant observations among international organisations, international, national and Syrian NGOs, and Syrian refugees. The conceptual framework is shaped by adopting a bottom-up approach, and considers the interplay between legality, uncertainty, and homemaking as central in unpacking the temporary protection category. The thesis argues that the temporary protection category functions as a refugee-management tool, speaking to state interests in deterring refugees’ attempts to remake their lives in the place of refuge, through the insecurities of legality and tempo-spatial uncertainties. Focusing on refugee agency provides us with a new and important dimension for considering the temporary protection conundrum, by paying attention to refugees’ aspirations and strategies of homemaking. It is concluded that only through a holistic understanding of the many dimensions of temporary protection, and its impacts on the refugee, that a truly workable framework will emerge, that focuses on protection rather than temporality.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare K Law [Moys] > KB General and Comparative Law
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Refugees -- Government Policy -- Turkey, Refugees -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Turkey, Syria -- History -- Civil War, 2011- -- Refugees -- Turkey
Official Date:	September 2019
Dates:	Date Event September 2019 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	School of Law
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Stevens, Dallal
Sponsors:	Turkey. Millî Eğitim Bakanlığı
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	276 leaves : colour maps
Language:	eng

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