The concept of migrant integration has entered circulation in policy and scholarly writing in Turkey in the past decade, following the arrival of Syrian refugees. In this presentation, I seek to show how the policy concept has been transferred to Turkey through the Europeanization of migration policy in the country, but especially in the wake of the European Union's (EU) externalization of migration management. Using the notion of vernacularization, I trace the reshaping of the concept in different domains of knowledge production such as official documents, policy studies and projects funded by the EU. The vernacularized form of integration, namely, social harmonization, assumes the host and migrant/refugee communities to be homogeneous within themselves, with Islam as the common denominator between them.
Prof. Dr Deniz Yükseker is a sociologist and migration researcher at Izmir University in Turkey who has researched and published widely on the topics of displacement, integration and migration (https://people.ieu.edu.tr/en/haticedenizyuksekertekin/main).She has conducted research and published extensively on Syrian refugees, African migrants, forced internal displacement of Kurds and circular migration of shuttle traders in Turkey. Currently she is a Senior Visiting Fellow. On 5 June 2024, she will give a lecture on ‘Migrant Integration in Turkey: Travels of a Concept across Borders and Domains of Knowledge Production’ as part of her fellowship .