Case study on Turkey
As a BEYOND postdoctoral researcher, Gürakar-Skribeland is set to explore the interaction between the international refugee law regime and Turkey, — hoping to shed light on the mutual impact, especially in recent years when Turkey has been the country in the world hosting the biggest number of refugees.
Gürakar-Skribeland recently completed her PhD in law at the University of Oslo. Using Turkey as a case, her PhD project analyzed the lawfulness of returning irregular migrants to transit countries.
Gürakar-Skribeland has her primary law degree from Galatasaray University, Turkey, and did her Master of Laws as a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard Law School, USA. She has practiced law at international law firms in Istanbul and London.
Turkey and the Refugee Convention
From a refugee law and practice perspective, Gürakar-Skribeland describes Turkey as an interesting case:
– Turkey is one of the drafters of the Refugee Convention and has ratified it but maintains to this date its original geographical limitation, she tells.
–This means that it applies the Refugee Convention only to a handful of refugees originating from Europe while the huge refugee population in the country falls outside of Turkey's protection obligations under the Convention, she explains.
Exploring new approaches
For Gürakar-Skribeland, a key motivation to join BEYOND was the project’s shift of focus from obligations under the Refugee Convention to non-party states. She also finds the project’s structure, with different participants asking similar questions about different states, exciting:
– I think this will give us a great space for collaboration and we will learn a lot from each other.
Gürakar-Skribeland is looking forward to exploring a range of methods and approaches over the next few years:
– My previous research was desk-based and doctrinal but with this project, I intend to explore different methods and approaches, and this is one of the many things I am excited about.