Greatrick, ‘Queer (Im)mobilities and the “Refugee Crisis”‘, 2017

Aydan Greatrick, ‘Queer (Im)mobilities and the “Refugee Crisis”: Examining Stakeholder Responses to Sexual Minority Refugees in Turkey’, UCL Migration Research Unit
Working Papers, No. 2017/1

Abstract

This article explores the ways in which different organisations in Turkey are responding to and engaging with sexual minority refugees displaced as part of the ‘Refugee Crisis’. It does so by examining the discursive representations of queer or LGBTQ refugees, and their impact on both local and international responses to sexual minority displacement in Turkey. In so doing, this article argues that whilst attempts to mainstream sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) persecution into international and state-level protection strategies is welcome, the Turkish example shows more research is needed lest this engagement results in the furthering of exclusionary practices that may in fact make it more difficult to protect the most vulnerable of queer peoples. In light of this assessment, this article notes the significant and under-researched ways in which local organisations in Turkey are navigating these problems within their sexual minority refugee protection programmes, in turn presenting the conceptual tools that may enable international actors to respond to and engage with sexual minority refugees in more effective ways.

Keywords: Sexuality, sexual minorities, displacement, Turkey, LGBTQ