The dimensions and politics of discrimination against syrian refugees in Turkey

Abstract

This chapter discusses the changes and continuities in the policies developed for refugees in Turkey with a focus on the ways through which these policies perpetuate various faces of discrimination. Turkey has around four million refugees, 3.5 million of which came from Syria in the last decade. Providing a safe, hospitable living environment for such a large number of people where individuals can enjoy their human rights and also take part in social, economic, and political life of the country that they relocated to is a very difficult task for any government to realize. Turkey has faced this challenge in a time of economic downturn and rising internal and international security concerns. Thus, understanding the root causes and implications of the discrimination that overshadows the daily experiences of refugees in Turkey could only be possible if not just the legal and political but also economic and psychological dimensions surrounding the events are considered. For this reason, this chapter will adopt both a historical and a multidimensional approach. After discussing legal, discursive, institutional, and socioeconomic reasons behind discrimination, the chapter will focus on the need for and the difficulty of developing a differentiated approach in addressing the needs of different groups within the refugee populations.