Zeynep Kurtuluş

Syrian Refugee Crisis: Psycho-Social Impacts in Turkey

Started Oct. 12, 2021

Abstract or project description

Migration, be it forced or chosen, is and will be a structural phenomenon which needs to be addressed by policy makers and institutions in a long term and structural matter. Countries who fail to do so pay a high prize in terms of school dropout, unemployment and raise people without perspectives -costs that are far higher than the necessary investments in education. One area of increased attention in world politics is the refugee crisis. This paper handles this issue in the specific case of Turkey. Although Turkey has implemented several policies for Syrian refugee pupils’ integration, how effective they are functioning in practice is questionable. Segregation is of great importance with dire consequences for the refugee children. The issue of the refugee crisis is engaged in terms of the integration of Syrian refugees to the society, and the problems that the children refugees face regarding their education. Emigrating to another country generally means that there may be language barriers and the refugees may need to suspend their education and/or work. In this paper, to gain a better perspective of the Syrian refugees and especially of children, Syrian refugee crisis is approached from many different aspects such as educational, psychological, and sociological. As a suggestion, a brief period in immersion classes for each refugee children should to be combined with an extended support for them in regular classes, since it is obvious that the war in Syria has not been over and many of the Syrian refugees will stay in Turkey more for an undefined period.