Legal Barriers Against Access to Justice for Foreigners in Turkey
We argue that the problems regarding foreigners' access to justice manifest themselves as a policy implemented through decisions taken at the central government level, and that the weakening of legal protection against deportation is of central importance in this respect. As a theoretical framework, we refer to the academic literature on ‘deportability’, which has recently come to the fore in critical migration studies.
The study also takes into account that Turkey is a ‘refugee rentier state’ in the context of the Syrian refugee ‘crisis’ and argues that the purpose of the ‘deportability’ regime in Turkey is not only to discipline foreigners under intense fear on a daily basis, but also to reinforce the ongoing refugee commodification policy to guarantee international community’s economic and political rewards in return for keeping refugees in the country.
In the presentation, the legal mechanisms through which foreigners' access to justice is rendered ineffective will be discussed by analysing legislation, administrative decisions and relevant court rullings. In terms of methodology, the administrative decisions and first instance court rullings examined in the study are based on a small-scale research. Empirical academic studies covering a large sample from across Turkey and reports of international organisations are reviewed. In order to support the findings of these sources and to discuss the current situation, we analyse recent decisions by the Izmir Administrative Courts and the Izmir Provincial Directorate of Migration Management on deportation.