Turkey’s external differentiated integration with the EU in the field of migration governance: the case of border management

Turkey’s double-headed role both as an accession candidate with a fading membership perspective and as a strategic partner of the EU makes it an alluring case through which to study external differentiation as an ever-evolving phenomenon. In this respect, the policy area of migration offers an intriguing opportunity to examine the evolving debate on the EU–Turkey relationship from both policy-centered and theory-directed angles. This paper aims to uncover the extent and drivers of Turkey’s external differentiated integration with the EU in the field of border management. Of specific relevance to the study is the heterogeneity of integration both within and across the three issue areas of priority from the EU and Turkey’s perspective: a) the implementation of the Integrated Border Management (IBM); b) operational and technical cooperation with FRONTEX; c) enhanced cooperation on border controls and on combating irregular migration within the context of the March 2016 EU–Turkey Statement. Accordingly, first, the paper examines the degree of external differentiated integration between the EU and Turkey in these three selected issue areas based on the analysis of annual country reports of the Commission. Second, it critically assesses the effect of the explanatory variables distilled from the existing literature in order to identify the prevailing drivers of variance in Turkey’s external differentiated integration with the EU pertaining to border management.