The Security Perceptions of Turkish Society towards Syrian Refugees
The Security Perceptions of Turkish Society towards Syrian Refugees

Summary/Abstract: Natural causes such as unbalanced distribution of resources and climate change, which may be coupled with man-made causes such as armed conflict, occupation, discrimination, violation of human rights, developed technologies, and the demand for a better life, have made the human race experience migration. With the contribution of international actors, the civil war in Syria after the Arab Spring in the Middle East, which began in early 2011, displaced Syrians internally and internationally. The mass migration of over 3.5 million Syrians, who were distributed across every city of Turkey, has affected Turkish society in many areas such as social, economic, political, and security from a broader perspective. The main goal of the research is to identify the Turkish security perception caused by the Syrians who have been living in Turkey for over ten years, in the light of ongoing discussions about their permanent or temporary status. Security perceptions are selected and measured with a newly developed questionnaire. The “Most Similar System Design”, which is frequently used in social sciences and allows to make comparisons, has been used to measure these perceptions. Two cities, which have similar socio-economic parameters but different populations of Syrians, have been chosen as suitable for this design. A high level of security perception in total and variances were found in both cities.

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