Turkey’s Walled Borders: A Multiscalar Approach

Abstract

International audienceIn addition to the walls built by Bulgaria on the Turkish-Bulgarian border and by Greece on the Greek-Turkish one, Turkey itself launched the construction of a concrete wall on its border with Syria in 2015. Two years later, it continued this policy of enclosure with the construction of a wall on its border with Iran. While the fortification of borders is not a dynamic peculiar to Turkey, a multiscalar approach enables us to situate this fortification policy within Turkey's own regional space. Observing these two walls on different geographical scales allows us to understand the converging interests of the various players involved in this strategy of fortification. This also makes it possible to draw out discourses that are probably less visible, such as the European Union's support for the creation of these walls