Introduction

This introductory chapter first presents an overview of the Syrian civil war as it is seen and debated at the border region. Second, it examines Turkish migration policies in order to understand how they have evolved since the foundation of Turkey and how they changed after 2011. Third, it explores the theoretical approach that informs the main arguments in the book by explaining what refugee encounters at the border entail. Finally, it focuses on the methodology, field sites, and the politics of fieldwork with an emphasis on reflexive ethnographic aspects of the research.