Beyond Borders: Social and Political Reflections of Migration

The panel titled "Beyond Borders: Social and Political Reflections of Migration," organized in collaboration with the Bahçeşehir University Human Rights Club and the Bahçeşehir University Migration and Urban Studies Application and Research Center (BAUMUS), was held with strong participation on Wednesday, 20 November, at the university's Beşiktaş South Campus.

The first speaker of the panel, BAUMUS Founding Director Prof. Dr. Ulaş Sunata, addressed migration through its social and political dimensions without reducing it to legal and administrative boundaries alone. Emphasizing that migration is much more than an individual experience, Sunata drew attention to the fact that it is a dynamic process shaped by social belonging, identity, citizenship and rights. The invisible boundaries migrants face in daily life beyond their legal status, forms of discrimination and practices of social exclusion were among the prominent topics of the panel.

The second speaker of the panel, Att. Yekta Işık Nergiz, General Director of the Sevgi ve Kardeşlik Foundation (SEV-KAR), focused on migrants' access to social protection mechanisms in her presentation enriched with field experience. Illustrating with examples the structural inequalities, legal gaps and barriers to accessing social services faced particularly by migrant women and children, Nergiz emphasized the importance of social justice in this area.

At the end of the event, participants had the opportunity to compare different perspectives on migration studies and to communicate directly with experts. Bringing together both academic and civil society perspectives, the panel created a comprehensive platform for discussing the social and political impacts of migration.