The Situation of Syrians in Turkey Through the Lens of a Survey
by Barbara Jancewicz | Centre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw
Initially, both the Turkish government and the Syrians fleeing the war thought that their stay would be temporary, and acted accordingly. However, years have passed, the war has not ceased and it seems that many Syrians might stay in Turkey for good. In 2019 the RESPOND team conducted a survey among Syrians in Turkey who fled the war-torn country and arrived in Turkey between 2011-2017 to find out more about their situation. We gathered answers from 789 people in four cities: Istanbul (234 interviews), Şanliurfa (205 interviews), Izmir (199 interviews) and Batman (151 interviews). At the time there were almost 3.6 million Syrians registered with Temporary Protection status in Turkey and their number grew slightly since then, showing Syrians’ ongoing need for a safe haven. The survey showed that Syrian refugees in Turkey face many problems encountered often also by other migrants such as difficulties in finding work, learning the local language or finding acceptance in their new place of living. Yet as forced migrants they have fewer resources and opportunities to deal with those problems by themselves.
Figure 1: Turkish cities where the survey was conducted.
The official data suggest that most Syrians in Turkey were (and still are) young people, often couples with children, and our results confirm this, as over half of survey participants were married and had children. Almost all held a Turkish identity card (Kimlik) which confirmed their legal status. Simultaneously three out of four respondents wished to obtain Turkish citizenship although many thought it would be impossible to obtain.
Figure 2: Survey participants’ marital status (N = 788).
Source: Brzozowska et al. 2020, RESPOND survey in Turkey.
Many (four out of ten) survey participants were working (at the time of the study) even though until 2016 Syrians in Temporary Protection were blocked from legal employment and after 2016 they still needed to overcome many hurdles to gain the right to work legally. These hurdles pushed Syrians towards informal work. Most working survey participants managed to find a job within the first few months of their arrival in Turkey because they needed to support themselves. Most worked over 45 hours a week in low-level jobs either as skilled (e.g. welder, machine operator, tailor, nurse) or unskilled workers in manufacturing, food service or construction. Thus, many Syrians fit under the label of the working poor.
Aside from the right to work, one of the main barriers to employment was the necessity to know the local language (indicated as a problem by half of the survey participants). This barrier is typical for migrants in a foreign country. Half of the respondents said that they were learning Turkish at the time of the study, however, most did so through their daily life interactions and only some Syrians managed to participate in a structured language class. Attending classes could have been a problem since there were often only a few options available and some class times collided with work, family obligations or they required long commutes.
Many survey participants still think of returning to Syria at least if peace and a good government settled there, but almost half of respondents never think of returning anymore. Moving further to another country is something that four in ten respondents said they would do if given a chance, but such chances are scarce, and over half of survey participants said that they never consider moving anywhere beyond Syria and Turkey. Overall, many respondents considered leaving Turkey only if special circumstances arose and many were already set on staying in Turkey for good. The Turkish government seems to acknowledge the situation and adjusted some policies to this new reality by opening a path to legal work and citizenship acquisition, but also by creating a plan to “return” and settle a million Syrians along the border in northeast Syria (Reuters 2019). Thus, the future of Temporary Protected in Turkey is uncertain. However, our survey shows that if Syrians were to stay permanently in Turkey, more work is to be done to promote integration and social harmony (uyum).
Figure 3: Survey respondents by their attitudes toward a potential return to Syria (in %, N = 789).
Source: Brzozowska et al. 2020, RESPOND survey in Turkey.
References
Brzozowska, A., Górny, A., Jancewicz, B., Cetrez, Ö., Shakra M. & Sobczak-Szelc, K. 2020. Database: RESPOND survey in Turkey, Available at: 10.5281/zenodo.4018050
Reuters. 2019. Erdogan says Turkey aims to settle 1 million refugees in Syria offensive area Reuters, 9 of December 2019 [Online], Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security-turkey/erdogan-says-turkey-aims-to-settle-1-million-refugees-in-syria-offensive-area-idUSKBN1YD27R [Accessed 28 August 2020]