Abstract
Immigration, which is called as the human dimension of globalization, has a large
impact on the culture, economy and politics of the states. With globalization, the
wave of migration throughout the world has intensified; the number of legal and
illegal immigration and seeking refugees has reached large points as well as has come
to include more countries. One of most important of the problems that has faced by
European Union, which started in order to achieve a common economic policy after
the Second World War and began gradually moving towards a political formation,
is immigration toward Union’s territories from outside. Turkey, which is regarded
as a country that stands at the intersection of migration in both historical as well as
geographical location, could not build a comprehensive immigration policy until the
2000s. In this study, the progress of the European Union and Turkey’s immigration
policies will be discussed in the light of the historical background. Nevertheless, the
underlying causes of the conditions behind Turkey’s failure to prepare a national
migration strategy that can generate the required policies by examining the longterm
development will be discussed, despite the EU’s impact on Turkey’s full
membership process.
Key Words: Migration, European Union, Immigration Policy, Turkey, the EU-Turkey
Relations.
