On social integration process with refugees in Turkey: how can NGOs be more effective?

ABSTRACT

According to the statistics of UN, more than 6.5 million people have been internally displaced since the Syrian crisis in 2011. There are also more than 13.1 million people in need in Syria. Approximately 5.6 million people have become refugees in various countries, mostly in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. Among the countries welcoming displaced Syrians, Turkey is at the top, hosting over 3.5 million refugees. Governmental agencies, and I/NGOs (non-governmental organisations) are working together to meet the needs of Syrian refugees in Turkey. In this context, the social integration of refugees into the host community has become prominent. This study is focused on the positive and negative aspects of this social integration process in Turkey. By positive aspect, the positive contributions were meant, on the other hand, negative aspects are used to illustrate the shortcomings of the social integration process. In the research, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with the supervisors of refugee- oriented programmes implemented by NGOs. The focus is on the evaluation of social integration and the role of civil society organisations in this process. The main purpose is to discuss the current situation and to elicit different perspectives on the development of social integration process.

KEYWORDS:

• Syrian refugees
• social integration
• NGOs
• Turkey

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dr Ilgar Seyidov is an instructor in the Department of Public Relations and Advertising, School of Business, Atilim University. His research interests are dialogue/civil dialogue, media studies, negotiation and persuasion techniques, and civil society studies.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 3RP Data, access link: https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/syria#_ga=2.180845806.857231232.1539586977-1262952529.1539586977, access date: 17.10.2018.

2 This number is the recent official data of General Directorate of Migration Management (GDMM) of Turkey, access link; http://www.goc.gov.tr/icerik6/gecici-koruma_363_378_4713_icerik, access date: 07.04.2019.

3 The Law no 6458, access link: http://www.goc.gov.tr/files/files/eng_minikanun_5_son.pdf, access date: 16.10.2018.

4 Asylum & Migration Research Center (IGAM) 2013 Report, Access link: https://www.igamder.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Suriye-STK-Raporu.pdf, access date: 17.10.2018; HUGO (Hacettepe University Migration and Politics Research Center) 2014 Report, Access link: https://mmuraterdogan.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/hugo-report-syrians-in-turkey-social-acceptance-and-integration-november-2014-04122014-en1.pdf, Access date: 17.10.2018; ORSAM (Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies) 2015 Report, Access link: http://tesev.org.tr/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Effects_Of_The_Syrian_Refugees_On_Turkey.pdf, Access date: 17.10.2018; WFP (World Food Programme) 2018 report, Access link: https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000039741/download/, Access date: 17.10.2018; FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization of UN) 2018 Report, Access link: https://fscluster.org/sites/default/files/documents/fao-syrian-refugee-plan2018-19.pdf, Access link: 17.10.2018.