Accession conditionality and migration diplomacy: Turkey’s dual identity in migration policy negotiations with the EU

Abstract

Securitization and politicization of migration in the EU, led the states in its periphery to strategically use migration management in negotiations for a wide range of issues. In this setting, Turkish case is unique due to the country’s dual considerations: (i) maintain the accession conditionality framework for longer term benefits and (ii) negotiate through ‘migration diplomacy’ for shorter-term concessions. This article analyses the last two decades of EU-Turkey relationship on migration management, through four case studies representing the migration policy field including regular migration, irregular migration and asylum. It presents the evolution and transformation of migration policy to become a subject of diplomacy and the interplay between accession conditionality and migration diplomacy in Turkey’s relationship with the EU. It shows that, in all policy fields, with the decline in its accession prospects, Turkey was empowered to negotiate through migration diplomacy by establishing issue linkages between various issues including visa liberalization, and the promise of cooperation in migration policy field. This trend of conducting negotiations in the framework of migration diplomacy rather than in an asymmetrical manner through accession conditionality, is expected to become the norm in the future of EU-Turkey relationship.