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.