The impact of xenophobia on the marketing activities of enterprises in the context of Syrian migration: A field study on Syrian enterprises

After the 2011 Syrian civil war, millions of Syrians were forced to flee their country. Turkey has been one of the countries most exposed to mass Syrian migration due to its open door policy and its border with Syria. As of 2024, Syrians, whose number exceeded 4 million, have been active in many business lines in our country and have been involved in the working life by opening businesses in various sectors. The rapid increase in their numbers and the prolongation of their stay have also created new problems. Local people have started to object to the prolongation and permanence of their stay and have started to react to the rights granted to refugees and the policies taken in this direction. Foreigners have also been blamed for recent economic problems such as the housing crisis and the high cost of living. Zenophobia has become a concept that has been the subject of much attention and academic research following the global increase in migration movements. The negative reflections of this concept, which means fear of foreigners, have started to be felt not only in social and cultural dimensions but also in economic dimensions. The aim of this study is to determine the impact of xenophobia on the marketing activities of Syrian businesses after the Syrian mass migration. In this context, a field research was conducted on Syrian businesses. Within the scope of the research, semi-structured interview technique, which is a qualitative data collection method, was applied. Interviews were conducted face-to-face with 30 Syrian business owners in the Önder neighborhood of Ankara. In line with the data obtained, the relationship between xenophobic attitudes and the marketing activities of Syrian businesses was tried to be determined. As a result of the observations and interviews, it was seen that business owners started to feel xenophobic attitudes and attitudes towards xenophobia in their social lives, but it was understood that xenophobic attitudes did not affect marketing activities.