SYRIAN REFUGEES FROM TURKISH PEOPLE’S PERSPECTIVE: THE CASE OF SEHZADELER DISTRICT (MANISA)

Abstract

It is known that the uprisings known as The Arab Spring in 2010, which are claimed to have started against dictatorial regimes, are actually the result of the imperialist countries' efforts to reshape the Middle East. Related to these efforts, the civil war in Syria has deeply affected Turkey. Millions of Syrian citizens have come to the Turkish border as refugees. Turkey has opened its doors to them with its open door policy. However, due to the fact that the Assad administration could not be overthrown in the foreseeable period and the civil war in Syria continued, the stay of asylum seekers who came to Turkey was prolonged. In addition, it is frequently stated that Syrian refugees are now permanent in Turkey. Considering that this situation causes some discomfort and unrest among the Turkish people, it is aimed to determine the perceptions and thoughts of the Turkish people towards Syrian refugees in this study. For this purpose, questionnaire questions were asked to the sample group consisting of 157 people in Şehzadeler district of Manisa province. The data of the research carried out on March 16-28, 2019 were analyzed using SPSS 16.0. As a result of the analysis, it was found that the majority of the sample group did not take kindly to policies and regulations that would reinforce the permanent residence of Syrian refugees in Turkey.