Syrian refugees in Turkey

Abstract

This report provides an overview of Syrian migration to Turkey since the start of the revolt in Syria in March 2011. The number of displaced Syrians crossing the border into Turkey has dramatically risen with the escalating use of violence employed by the Syrian regime ito suppress the revolt. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, 182,621 Syrian refugees were living in Turkey mid-February 2013 (http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php). With the influx of huge numbers of Syrians into Turkey, anti-immigrant, anti-Arab discourses have surfaced among the Turkish public. Furthermore, due to the Turkish governments’ openly hostile position to the Syrian regime, Syrian migration became closely linked with Turkish domestic politics and foreign policy. Those individuals and political bodies critical of the Turkish government assumed an anti-immigrant position accusing displaced Syrians of being armed, sectarian rebels. Therefore, analyzing the Syrian migrant community in Turkey means contextualizing it within the political framework of the host-society.