Biopolitical bodies at the Greek-Turkish border

Abstract: On 27 February 2020, Erdogan announced that he would open the Turkish border, allowing refugees to cross into Europe. Greece’s response was the deployment of military forces and the suspension of asylum applications. This study theoretically draws heavily upon Giorgio Agamben’s work on biopolitics by analyzing discourses conducted by three representatives of the Greek government. It illustrates how the New Democracy party represents the arrival of asylum seekers at the Greek-Turkish border and investigates the rationale it developed regarding the implementation of the exceptional measures. The portrayal of asylum seekers as an ‘asymmetrical threat’ activates the biopolitical machine and through the exception, the sovereign exposes its raw power over the bodies of refugees, and the management of death becomes sovereign’s absolute objective. Consequently, the exception becomes indistinguishable from the norm and expands beyond the Greek-Turkish border, rendering those who dispute the Greek government’s practices as a potential homo sacer.