Bilateral Relations Between Refugee-Hosting and Origin Countries: The Case of Turkey and Syria Until the Fall of Assad

This article examines the influence of the Syrian refugee crisis on Turkey’s relations with Syria throughout the crisis. Employing a qualitative methodology, the findings suggest that the Syrian refugee crisis had multi-faceted impacts on bilateral relations between the two countries. The 2011–2015 open-door humanitarian phase, the 2015–2019 security prioritization phase, and the 2019–2024 frozen-crisis phases reveal how the presence of refugees shaped Turkey’s engagement with key actors. It also resulted in a relational power imbalance between Turkey and Syria and led to a disrupted form of security complex between the two countries, primarily perceived by Turkey alone.