Maria Cook travels to Turkey for international conference

On April 18-20, 2008, Professor Maria Lorena Cook traveled to Istanbul, Turkey, for a conference, titled "(Irregular) Transit Migration in the European Space: Theory, Politics, and Research Methodology." The conference was supported by IMISCOE, the EU-funded network on International Migration, Integration, and Social Cohesion. (Download the conference program, pdf). 

Held at Koc University, the event brought together senior and junior scholars, including many Ph.D. students, from throughout Europe, Africa, the CIS, and the Middle East. The conference focused on the issue of "transit migration" to Europe: migration through countries bordering or en route to the European Union. 

On the last day participants took a bus to the Greek-Turkish border at Edirne. Here they were able to see a major crossing point for irregular migration at the frontier with the EU. They also managed to visit a detention center on the border, where men, women, and children turned back from Greece were awaiting deportation. 

"Studying migration in and around Europe affords so many opportunities for looking at the issues comparatively," said Cook.  "This was a long way to go for a short while but it was worth it in every way: for what I learned, for the contacts I made, and for the opportunity to see one of the world’s great cities."