In our previous issue, we gave the following explanation for why we had chosen to focus on the subject of political participation: “At a time when the meaning of politics has been narrowed to refer only to the election process, it is necessary to broaden our conception of...
Civil Society and Syrian Refugees in Turkey
| File |
|---|
 Civil Society and Syrian Refugees in Turkey |
Syrians arriving en mass since 2011 have become part of daily life in Turkey. Their unprecedented number living outside camps has necessitated ‘civil society’ to respond, forced to fill the vacuum of assistance left by a government which has mainly focused its support on those who are in camps. Our one year research project, conducted in four cities across Turkey (Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Gaziantep), aimed to understand how civil society is responding to Syrians in the country. It is mindful that discussing ‘changes’ in civil society is difficult owing to the lack of a fixed comparison and the various stratifications and ambiguities within the term. It therefore focuses instead on how relationships between different actors are being affected by the Syrian presence and how CSO activities may affect the possible inclusion of Syrians in the country.
