This event will discuss the initial findings of a project examining the political feasibility of adopting the UNDP’s “Türkiye Compact” proposal for the EU, Switzerland and the UK.
Governments across Europe, including the UK, are looking for new solutions to reduce irregular migration. UNDP's "Türkiye Compact" suggests an innovative economic and social solution where humanitarian assistance is combined with sustainable development goals. The event will discuss findings from a CATS Network project, funded by the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) and overseen by LSE’s Chair for Contemporary Turkish Studies, that has investigated the political feasibility of this proposal for the EU and Switzerland by interviewing more than 40 experts, officials, and politicians in Ankara, Berlin, Brussels, Geneva and Bern.
Key points of discussion for the event are as follows:
Managing irregular migration and addressing protracted refugee situations that often lead to secondary movements is a growing concern of European governments and publics.
The “Türkiye Compact” proposes easier access to European and US markets for Turkish agricultural and textile products in exchange for formal employment opportunities for Syrian refugees in Turkey.
A study by the UNDP suggests that the adoption of the “Türkiye Compact” could create up to 284,000 jobs, of which 20% are estimated to go to Syrian refugees. However, is this proposal politically feasible and could it also be a policy of interest to the UK?
Speakers and Project Researchers:
Kemal Kirişci (@kemalkirisci) is a nonresident senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe’s Turkey Project at Brookings, specializing in Turkish foreign policy and migration studies. From 2013 to 2020, he was TÜSİAD senior fellow at Brookings and director of the Turkey Project. His most recent book, Turkey and the West: Faultlines in a Troubled Alliance (Brookings Institution Press, 2017), examines Turkey’s complex relationship with the West. Before Brookings, he was a professor at Boğaziçi University. His research interests include EU-Turkish relations, U.S.-Turkish relations, immigration issues, and ethnic conflicts. He holds a doctorate in international relations from City University, London.
Friedrich Püttmann (@Friedrich_Cle) is a PhD candidate at the European Institute and an associated researcher at the French Institute for Anatolian Studies (IFEA) in Istanbul. His thesis investigates the role of religious and ethnic identity in how Turkish citizens relate to Syrian refugees, employing both ethnographic and statistical methods.
Discussants:
Virginie Guiraudon (Ph.D. Harvard, 1997) is CNRS research director at the Sciences Po Center for European and Comparative studies in Paris. Her research initially focused on the comparative politics of immigration and citizenship while her current work analyses the drivers and effects of the Europeanization of immigration, asylum and border policies. She has also published on the role of non-state actors and third states in bordering policies and “The 2015 refugee crisis was not a turning point: explaining policy inertia in EU border control” in European Political Science (2018).
John Alty (@JohnAlty1) is a Visiting Professor in Practice at LSE European Institute. His career in HM Government focused on regulation, markets, and business issues with a strong EU and international dimension. Before leaving in 2021, he was Director General for Trade Policy at the Department for International Trade, leading UK trade policy post-EU referendum. He also served as Acting Permanent Secretary and CEO of the UK Intellectual Property Office. His expertise includes competition policy, digital sector reforms, and labour market policy. He has led major trade negotiations, including the post-Brexit FTA with South Korea, and has deep experience in international and business stakeholder relations.
Chair: Yaprak Gürsoy (@ygursoy) is Professor of European Politics and Chair of Contemporary Turkish Studies at LSE. She has worked on Turkish politics, democratization and regime consolidation. She is the author of Between Military Rule and Democracy: Regime Consolidation in Greece, Turkey, and Beyond.
Funded by the Centre for Applied Turkey Studies (CATS) at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP)
More about this event
The Centre for Applied Turkey Studies (CATS) at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) in Berlin is funded by Stiftung Mercator and the Federal Foreign Office. CATS is the curator of the CATS Network, an international network of think tanks and research institutions working on Turkey. "Assessing the Political Feasibility of the Türkiye Compact" is a project of CATS Network.
Contemporary Turkish Studies focuses on the politics and economy of Türkiye and its relations with the rest of Europe. The programme aims to promote a deeper understanding of contemporary Türkiye through interdisciplinary and critical research, teaching and related public activities.
The European Institute (@LSEEI) is a centre for research and graduate teaching on the processes of integration and fragmentation within Europe.
Hashtag for this event: #LSETürkiye
Kirişci, K., & Püttmann, F. (2024, December 3). The UNDP’s Proposal for a ‘Türkiye Compact’: Is it Politically Feasible? CATS Network Brief No. 01. Centre for Applied Turkey Studies (CATS Network)
Podcast & Video
You can download the podcast of this event. For access to podcasts and videos from other CTS events, visit the past event pages.