Honorable Return or Diplomatic Expediency? Opportunities and Challenges for a Dignified Return of Syrians from Türkiye
Honorable Return or Diplomatic Expediency? Opportunities and Challenges for a Dignified Return of Syrians from Türkiye

Summary/Abstract: This article explores whether “honorable return” can serve as a rights-based governance framework for Syrians under Temporary Protection (TP) in Türkiye, or whether it risks becoming a diplomatically expedient policy instrument shaped by domestic political cycles and geopolitical bargaining. Honorable return is defined as voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable repatriation grounded in international protection standards and supported by verifiable institutional safeguards. Based on repatriation ethics, human security theory, the capabilities approach, and conflict-sensitive mobility scholarship, the article argues that return cannot be evaluated by aggregate departures alone but rather should be focused on measurable conditions at each of three post-return stages as well as mechanisms of accountability. Using recent official data from the Presidency of Migration Management and UNHCR Türkiye, the study analyzes how institutionalized temporariness, municipal capacity, and segmented labor markets shape the real opportunity structure within which return decisions emerge. The article concludes by identifying governance benchmarks aligned with SDG 10 and SDG 16.

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