KARANLIK ZAMANLARDA ARENDT OKUMAK: AVRUPA BİRLİĞİ, GÖÇ SORUNU VE GERİ İTMELER
READING ARENDT IN DARK TIMES: EU, THE MIGRATION PROBLEM AND THE PUSHBACKS

Summary/Abstract: Hannah Arendt continues to appeal to individuals who feel trapped in the public sphere and devote themselves to understanding the painful political realities of their lifetimes. Knowing what Arendt describes as dark times, unlike the general impression, is neither rare nor extraordinary and recognizing the moment when the public sphere goes dark are prerequisites of an integrated and wholesome good life. The migration and asylum-seeking crisis that has been going on since the Arab Uprisings and now has gained a global dimension comes to the fore as one of the indicators of dark times. This study seeks to explain the Syria-originated migration crisis of the past decade in terms of Arendt’s notions of dark times and statelessness. In doing that it aims to elaborate on the negative and depriving impact of statelessness on human capacity as well as on its potential to create darkness in the public sphere. Also, while discussing from a Arendtian perspective how the European Union’s (EU) migration policies and the pushbacks have resulted in practices in contradiction with European norms and values, specific reference to the sociologist and philosopher Zygmunt Bauman is made as Arendt’s influence on him is well-known.

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