This document analyzes Turkey's reception of Yezidi refugees under the AKP government. It finds that Yezidi refugees do not receive protection because they are seen as a threat to Sunni Muslim social cohesion. The government also assumes Yezidis will be politically loyal to Kurdish secular and separatist movements. Lastly, the Yezidis' original Kurdish religion could enhance Kurdish nationalism in a way difficult to curb with pan-Islamic ideas. The centralized Turkish state system limits international organizations from operating according to their standards and assisting Yezidi refugees, so Kurdish municipalities have established their own refugee system. Overall, Turkey's criteria for refugees do not align with international norms but are shaped by its own

1. Abstract
keywords: Identity politics, refugee protection, ethnicity, religion, minorities, Middle East,
securitisation;
Within the framework of securitisation theory, this thesis presents a case study of refugee politics in
Turkey, that looks at the AKP government’s categorization of the refugees’identity and the therewith
assumed political loyalty in relation to the current national-Sunni-Muslim identity conception,
which is very much penetrated by security concerns. The case study itself is looking at the Yezidi
refugees` reception by the Turkish state`s political and humanitarian system.
The thesis analysis, state, civil society and humanitarian response towards Yezidi refugees in the
Republic of Turkey under the current AKP government, and inquiries into the relevance of the AKP
government’s community conception of National Islamic Conservative Democracy as a factor for
accepting non-Muslims (and ethnically different) refugees. It also aims to find out about the
relevance of the unitary state system and its implementation in the Republic of Turkey as a factor
influencing refugee protection in Turkey, as the centralization of power due to the unitary state
system inhibits the effective operation of trans- and international organizations, in the country.
The analysis, more specifically, demonstrates that Yezidi refugees, under the AKP government’s
community conception of National Islamic Conservative Democracy, do not get protection as
refugees in Turkey, first of all, for being considered a threat to Sunni-Muslim social cohesion, and
more specifically, a threat to solidarity between Sunni-Muslim Turks and Sunni-Muslim Kurds.
Secondly, the analysis demonstrates that the Yezidis, according to the Turkish government’s
community conception of a National Islamic Conservative Democracy, are considered undesirable
refugees, because the Turkish government assumes the Yezidis’political loyalty to lie with the
Kurdish secular HDP movement and the separatist military PKK movement.
Lastly, the case study reveals in how far, in the current political climate in Turkey, the factor of the
Yezidis’being bearer of the original Kurdish religion (which, if integrated as an element into
Kurdish nationalism, would enhance a distinctive Kurdish nationalism that could be hard to curb
with pan-Islamic ideas) influenced the Turkish government’s decision to not offer them protection,
or only under AFAD control.
The case study analysis also demonstrates, that due to the special implementation of the unitary
state system, also in force under the AKP government, UNHCR and many other CSOs operating in
Turkey, cannot work according to their own standards because most of their activities are limited by
the central government. This administrative reality in Turkey, makes organizations unable to extend
their services to Yezidis. Lastly, the analysis demonstrates that, as a consequence, Kurdish
municipalities themselves built a sovereign refugee management system for Yezidi refugees, despite
their scarce resources.

2. Overall, the analysis shows that the Turkish government’s unofficial criteria for the reception of
refugees, who seek safety from war and persecution, in general, and of the Yezidis, in particular, do
not correspond with international norms of refugee protection. Instead, the criteria are shaped by
security concerns, of the Turkish government, resulting from other political conflicts.
The thesis concludes by stating that regulations regarding immigrants vary from integrative to
exclusionary, depending upon the interpretations of the immigrants’identity by the government in
relation to the Turkish national identity and national security concerns, which in Turkey are defined
in accordance with the government’s own political program. Moreover, it concludes that, in Turkey,
moral principles of social justice, are organized according to criteria of partiality.