The Syrian Refugee Crisis in the Kurdish Region of Iraq: Explaining the Role of Borders in Situations of Forced Displacement
| Published date | 01 April 2019 |
| Author | Filippo Dionigi |
| Date | 01 April 2019 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12468 |
The Syrian Refugee Crisis in the Kurdish
Region of Iraq: Explaining the Role of
Borders in Situations of Forced Displacement
Filippo Dionigi*
ABSTRACT
More than 250,000 Syrian refugees have relocated in the Kurdish Region of Iraq since 2011.
The local response has been relatively receptive towards them. This study proposes an analysis
of the concept of border and applies the idea of “border thinness”as an interpretative frame-
work to examine the nature of transborder relations between the Iraqi and Syrian Kurdish
areas. Relying on secondary sources, technical and elite level interviews with social and politi-
cal actors in KRI, the analysis highlights how Kurdish areas of Syria and Iraq have maintained
transborder relations which shaped the dynamics of displacement from Syria and constituted
the context for a relatively receptive stance towards Syrian Kurdish refugees. Borders do not
always mark a sharp territorial separation between social, political, and economic realities;
instead a more complex conceptualization exposes transborder relational spaces, explaining the
modes of displacement and its responses from host communities.
INTRODUCTION
This article proposes a conceptual analysis of borders applied to the examination of forced dis-
placement and its response from a receiving state. It focuses on the case of Syrian refugees in Iraq,
a relatively small population, barely studied given the magnitude of the Syrian refugee crisis in the
region and the significance of internal displacement in Iraq.
1
Common notions of statehood rely on the idea that borders contain societies and politics within a
territory over which the state has exclusive power. The exercise of this territorialized power consti-
tutes one of the most significant expressions of sovereignty that distinguishes modern statehood.
(Mann, 1984; Ruggie, 1993)
Yet this essay shows that the flight of Syrian refugees to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) is
the manifestation of dynamics more complex than a Westphalian ideal type of statehood can
explain. These dynamics motivate a reconceptualization of borders that account with greater preci-
sion for the multifaceted nature of cross-border relations and their political and social impact in a
refugee host state.
The border between Syria and Iraq was established almost a century ago and Iraqi and Syr-
ian regimes have harshly repressed the consolidation of Kurdish identity and polities for dec-
ades. Nevertheless, the displacement of Syrian refugees to KRI shows that relations among
Kurds are active across the border on multiple levels, making this a “thin border”.
2
Cross-bor-
der interactions have become even more significant with the loss of control of the Syrian state
* University of Bristol
doi: 10.1111/imig.12468
©2018 The Authors
International Migration ©2018 IOM
International Migration Vol. 57 (2) 2019
ISSN 0020-7985Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
over this area, in the context of a weak Iraqi state, and in conjunction with an emboldened
Kurdish authority.
The study begins with a definition of the concept of border thinness, which is then used as the
analytical framework for a qualitative examination of the Syrian-Iraqi border, especially as concerns
the areas populated mostly by Kurds in both countries. It then proceeds with the analysis of a set
of semi-structured interviews with policymakers and humanitarian operators engaged in the
response to the Syrian refugee crisis in KRI. In this way, this analysis will illustrate the ways in
which a thin border functions under conditions of displacement.
The study concludes by observing that representing borders assimple geographical lines
fails to portray a reality which cannot be grasped fully through the analytical category of a
territorialized state enclosed within borders. The dynamics of displacement that have taken
place since the beginning of the Syrian conflict call for an approach mindful of the historical
development of the border and its multi-layered structure, and assessing the extent to which it
has a containment capacity of society, politics, and economies within state territory.
Syrian displacement in KRI shows that a thin border has scarce containment capacity. Instead,
the relations that connect the two sides of the border have established a shared space for politics,
society, and economies. This context of transborder relations has made KRI a likely destination for
refugees who could count on political interests, social solidarity, and economic opportunities to
smoothen the impact of their presence in KRI. From the perspective of the host government and
society, the thin border means that Kurdish Syrian displacement has direct political, social, and eco-
nomic implications. In particular, the KRG political leadership could frame Syrian Kurdish pres-
ence into a discourse of solidarity and pan-Kurdishness that would have not been available
otherwise. Although there have been phases of border closure and a severe selectivity towards cer-
tain (especially Arab) refugees; these relations made possible by border thinness have set the stage
for a relatively receptive response towards refugees, making border closures, xenophobia, or the
criminalization of migration less likely.
SOURCES AND LIMITATIONS
The author has carried out 22 technical and elite-level, semi-structured interviews in KRI in April
2017. Only some of these interviews are directly quoted in the text. All quotations in the text have
been checked and authorized by the interviewees or their public relations offices. Furthermore, the
author visited Syrian refugee camps in each of the three Iraqi Kurdish governorates: Erbil (Koush-
tapa Camp), Dohuk (Domiz 2 Camp) and Suleymaniyya (Arbat Camp). Apart for the case of
Koushtapa Camp, Asayish, the internal security forces of the KRG, have constantly attempted to
limit the author’s access to the camps for reasons that could not be clarified. Nevertheless, the
UNHCR eventually facilitated access and allowed the author to get a sense of the quality of life in
camps, the kind of organizations that operate in them, and the regulations to which camp residents
are subjected, through direct observation and by speaking with camps administrators.
Furthermore, while internal displacement in Iraq is dramatic and demographically much more rel-
evant than the question of refugees this research is deliberately focussed on refugees exclusively
and not on internally displaced persons as an acknowledged limitation of the study.
RETHINKING BORDERS
The scholarly debate on borders has been developing across several disciplines focussing on the
redefinition of the nature, characteristics, and relevance of an important, yet understudied,
The Syrian Refugee Crisis in the Kurdish Region of Iraq11
©2018 The Authors. International Migration ©2018 IOM
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