NEW PERSPECTIVES ON TURKEY Astray and stranded at the gates of the European Union: African transit migrants in İstanbul * Deniz Yükseker Kelly Todd Brewer Abstract This paper discusses the consequences of EU migration control poli- cies on irregular and transit migration in Turkey by focusing on African migrants. Our argument is that the EU’s concern with transit migra- tion through the Mediterranean and hence its externalization and secu- ritization of migration control have contributed to Turkey’s becoming a waiting room for irregular and transit migrants. Based on the findings of a survey with African migrants in İstanbul and analysis of secondary sources, we show that many African migrants get stranded in Turkey. In the absence of an institutional setup for migration management and the prevalence of a security approach, migrants are faced with humanitarian problems and human rights violations. Keywords: African migrants in Turkey, asylum seeking, irregular migration, transit migration, EU migration policy. Introduction Ahmad, a young Somali, escaped the internal war in his country to somewhere on the Eastern Mediterranean coast after a long journey. He paid a human smuggler to take a boat to reach Greece, where he would seek asylum. When the boat was captured by security forces off the Ae- gean coast, he discovered that he was in Turkey! Overcoming the bu- reaucratic hurdles, he applied for asylum after a few months. He joined several other Somalis in İstanbul to share a small apartment, doing odd jobs to survive while waiting for the asylum procedure to be completed. 135 New Perspectives on Turkey, no. 44 (2011): 135-166. Deniz Yükseker, Koç University, Rumeli Feneri Yolu, Sarıyer, İstanbul 34450, email: dyukseker@ku.edu.tr Kelly Todd Brewer, Sabancı University, Orhanlı, Tuzla, İstanbul, email: brewer@sabanciuniv.edu