Securitization and Externalization of Irregular Migration: Asymmetric Interdependence and The Transformation of EU–Turkey Membership Prospects Under The Readmission Regime
Irregular migration emerged as a central concern on the European Union’s (EU) security agenda after the Cold War, becoming intertwined with an externalization strategy through which the EU has transferred external border-control functions to candidate and transit countries. Situated at the crossroads of three continents, Turkey stands at the heart of this dual pressure. This study examines how the securitization and externalization of irregular migration have transformed the EU–Turkey relationship under the readmission regime into a form of asymmetric interdependence and a “strategic trap,” and interrogates how this process has reshaped Turkey’s EU membership prospects and visa-liberalization objectives. Designed as an interpretive case study, the research draws on document and discourse analysis spanning the historical arc from the 1963 Ankara Agreement through the 2013 Readmission Agreement and the 2016 EU–Turkey Statement. The findings reveal that the relationship has produced a five-layered vise operating simultaneously across strategic, geopolitical, geo-economic, socio-economic, and membership dimensions, in which mutually reinforcing layers systematically constrain Turkey’s international agency. By synthesizing the literatures on securitization, externalization, and asymmetric interdependence around the concept of “strategic trap,” the study proposes a transferable analytical framework that explains the asymmetric cooperation patterns candidate and transit countries develop with EU border regimes. The results indicate that exit from this trap is feasible only through a multi-layered reform package executed simultaneously across legal, institutional, economic, demographic, and diplomatic dimensions.
Keywords: Securitization; externalization; asymmetric interdependence; strategic trap; EU–Turkey readmission regime.
