Publications

Few issues stir more controversy than granting citizenship to refugees, particularly in nations hosting large numbers for extended periods. Turkey’s decision to naturalise selected Syrians between 2016 and 2024 offers revealing insights into this challenge. This study examines two questions: (1) What role has crisis played in shaping the scope of the changes introduced? (2) How will Turkey’s exceptional citizenship for Syrian refugees reshape citizenship governance in Turkey? We employ three conceptual lenses—crisis, grey zones and policy windows—within a historical institutionalist framework and refugee citizenship politics perspective. Using a multi-method approach and drawing on policy documents, political discourse analysis and 33 interviews with Syrian applicants, we find that the Syrian crisis opened a policy window, allowing the government to craft an ambiguous ‘exceptional citizenship’ scheme in 2016. This program operates under ambiguous conditions through selective invitations, fast-tracked processing and opaque eligibility criteria. Yet this bold experiment faces fierce resistance from opposition parties and the public. Rather than cementing institutional change in Turkey’s ethnonationalist citizenship regime, it remains contested ground. The case illuminates how seemingly liberal refugee policies, born in crisis, can reshape migration governance and citizenship politics—even if their long-term impact remains uncertain.

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