League of Nations’ Refugee Operations through İstanbul: Back to the Origins of International Refugee Question

The key objective of this study is to understand the main predicaments of the contemporary international refugee management system by tracing back to the origins. Therefore, the modern day refugee question is searched through the League of Nations’ (LN) refugee operations. It is indicated that the palliative approach of the LN assuming the international refugee question in a vast area in the aftermath of the First World War (WWI) determined the international standards. Specifically, the operations of the League of Nations’ High Commissariat for Refugees (LNHCR) office in İstanbul are taken into close consideration as a case to delineate in depth. It is indicated that the state-centered structure of the international organizations is not capable of resolving the refugee question, which is indeed a transnational problem.