Impacts of Syrian migrants on the social life in Antakya in 2012-2016

Migration may arise due to many reasons as a social phenomenon. While some of these reasons cause migration from cities to another city within a country, others lead to larger scale and cross-border migration movements. It is for this reason that migration, on its own, is not a concept as simple as to be perceived as movement of people from one place to another. Dating back to ancient times, migration is a concept based on economic, political and social phenomena. While individuals or groups willingly migrate under certain circumstances to have better opportunities, they are sometimes forced to migrate due to turmoil taking place in their place of residence. Since the Anatolian geography is at the center of the Afro-Eurasian continent, it has been one of the most important migration routes of the world. Located between Middle East, Africa and Central Asia where economic growth and development levels are low and European countries where economic development is at high levels, Turkey is among the pioneering countries in terms of receiving transit migrants. Having faced great migration waves since the foundation of the Republic, Turkey received the largest of these migration movements from Syria where civil war broke out after the Arab Spring. Migrants from Syria have come to Turkey fleeing the war and limited economic means in their country. The point to pay attention here is that among Syrian migrants to Turkey, there are both the ones who forcefully migrated and those who took the situation as an opportunity to come to Turkey. In this study, it is aimed to analyze the effect of Syrian migrants in Turkey's Hatay province as a result of the incidents starting in March 2011 as a social movement and have been continuing so far as a civil war on social life in Antakya where people from various economic factions reside. When analyzing this effect, theories of migration are benefited first to answer the question why Syrian migrants preferred Antakya. Furthermore, answers are sought for the following questions: Have Syrian migrants caused any negative/positive changes in socio-economic field? How have Syrian migrants affected the labor market? Have problems of sheltering and real estate emerged in Antakya district of Hatay which is one of the provinces receiving large groups of immigrants in the country? If answers to these questions are all yes, what are the methods for solution? Key Words: Turkey, Syria, Migration, Hatay, socio-economic change