Paper Short Abstract:

Drawing on ethnographic PhD fieldwork on "refugee" settlement in Turkey, this paper argues that naturalisation of Syrians produced "cruel promises" (Berlant, 2011, p. 22) for autonomy, relationships and future belonging in a context of generalised legal, political and economic precarity.

Paper Abstract:

This paper considers the bureaucratic process and experiences of naturalisation of displaced Syrians living in Istanbul, Turkey who are naturalising or have naturalised as Turkish citizens. Turkey does not provide a regular pathway to permanent residence or citizenship, for the over 4 million refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere on its territory. Still, since 2016, the Turkish government under Recep Tayyip Erdogan has granted citizenship on a discretionary basis to just over 230,000 of forcibly displaced Syrians. Drawing on ethnographic PhD fieldwork on the politics of time in refugee settlement in Germany and Turkey, this paper argues that naturalisation poses a “cluster of promises” (Berlant, 2011, p. 16) for autonomy, relationships and future belonging for Syrians with precarious legal status; “cruel promises” that fail to materialise upon actual naturalisation. The bureaucratic process of naturalisation produces expectations for betterment of status amongst Syrians, promising freedom and equality to “citizens”, a life in fulfilled relationships, and future belonging (what Eva von Redecker (2023) terms “Bleibefreiheit” – the freedom to stay put). The fulfilment of those expectations, however, is unequally distributed; fulfilling autonomy, relationships and belonging for some relies on the denial for others. In failing to live up to the promises naturalisation itself created, naturalisation was a “cruel promise” in which existing injustices in legal, political and economic precarity were heightened and new forms of exclusion emerged.