ABSTRACT
Traditionally known as an emigration country, Turkey has recently become a country of immigration with the largest refugee population in the world. In the beginning of their exodus from Syria to their next-door neighbour, Syrian refugees were considered as ‘guests’ by the Turkish political elite. From the very beginning of the refugee plight, Syrians have been presented as if they are ‘welcome’ by both state and civil society actors because of some deep-rooted values such the ‘Turkish hospitality’, ‘Muslim fraternity’, and ‘guesthood’ traditions. A more recent metaphor to qualify the role that the Turkish state and the pious Muslim-Turks should play for Syrians in Turkey has been the Ansar spirit (Arabic for helpers). As a metaphor, Ansar refers to the people of Medina, who supported the Prophet Mohammad and the accompanying Muslims (muhajirun, or migrants) who migrated there from Mecca, which was under the control of the pagans. The metaphor of Ansar originally points at a temporary situation as the Muslims later returned to Mecca after their forces recaptured the city from the pagans. Hence, we claim that the Turkish government has used a kind of Islamic symbolism to legitimise its acts on the resolution of the Syrian refugee crisis. Analysing relevant sources of historiography as well as speeches of the leading political elite, official texts, legal documents, and the relevant media coverage, this chapter claims that these acts of tolerance and benevolence of the Justice and Development Party (JDP) government derive from their neo-Ottomanist and Islamist assumptions, which are likely to lead to the revitalisation of the rhetoric of tolerance and multiculturalism originating from the time of Prophet Mohammad and continuing through the Ottoman era.
