Migrant Smuggling Data and Research

anthropology, concentrating on certain specific groups living in Turkey
temporarily. They are more qualitative in nature, providing invaluable
ethnographic details regarding different groups of migrants present. Akcapar
(2006; 2010) focused in different parts of Turkey (İstanbul, Ankara, Van, Kayseri)
and in Western Europe (Belgium and Germany) on the relationship of migrant
networks and the use of human smugglers among the Iranian asylum seekers,
rejected cases and transit migrants. De Clerck (2013) carried out fieldwork for
her PhD dissertation with Senegalese in Istanbul, and she points out how a
transit country may become a place of destination when some transit migrants
with aspirations to go to Europe changed their minds after failed attempts. In his
study on African migration towards Turkey, Fait (2013) incorporated discussions
on the relations between irregular migrants and migrant smugglers. Deniz
(2000) and Yılmaz (2014) further took up the intertwined problem of asylum,
irregular migration and human smuggling and trafficking. Another ethnographic
study in İzmir province portrays the relationship of migrant intentions and
human smuggling networks (Wissinck, Düvell and van Eerdewijk, 2013). Based
on ethnographic research with human smugglers and migrants, Baird (2014)
analysed human smuggling between Turkey and Greece as a survival strategy for
international migrants.
There is, however, limited research carried out in international relations
and political science disciplines. There is even less research carried out within
the perspective of demographics, economy and legal studies. Several police
academy researchers in Ankara conducted studies focusing on the criminal aspect
of migrant smuggling, often portraying the abuse and coercion of migrants at
the hands of human smugglers (Çiçekli, 2005; Şeker and Erdal, 2010; UTSAM,
2012; İçli, Sever and Sever, 2015). Some police officers and military personnel
conducted graduate research on the topic focusing on criminal aspects of migrant
smuggling and human/migrant security considerations (Kahya, 2012; Ay, 2014).
Growing awareness on the topic recently paved the way for the
establishment of migration research centres at several universities. 44 These
centres organized workshops and conducted interdisciplinary research projects
on migration in general. ICMPD’s reports (2015) also focus on the relationship
between migrant smuggling and irregular migration analysing different routes
taken by migrants through Turkey. These studies combined desk-based research
with mainly secondary data and were interdisciplinary in character, as a number
of researchers and scholars were involved from different academic institutions
and backgrounds.
44
MiReKoc at Koç University, Istanbul, Migration Center at Istanbul Bilgi University and HUGO at Hacettepe
University in Ankara, Turkey.
Migrant Smuggling Data and Research:
A global review of the emerging evidence base
149