International humanitarian assistance with its coordination dimension in Türkiye: Problems and findings

Since 2011, when the civil war broke out in Syria, nearly 3,5 million refugees, the number of which has increased every year, were forced to leave their homeland and they settled in different parts of Turkiye leading the ones having borders with Syria. The process of civil war in Syria has turned into a humanitarian crisis involving nearby countries and Europan Union especially after 2014. In November 2015, the EU started to provide 3 billion Euro support and in March 2016, it provided another 3 billion Euro within the framework of a-three-year plan. In addition to the support of the EU, some countries such as the USA, England, Germany, France, Japan and Qatar have provided project-based support under the title of Humanitarian Aid through International Aid Organizations (NGOs) and United Nations in order to lessen the heavy burden on Turkey. Nearly 40 International / National Humanitarian Aid Organizations in the field have been offering services such as cash assistance , educational support, food assistance, protection support, social support, vocational training and information dissemination for 3,5 million Syrian guests and also local public with the employment of around 8,000 people. Now having turned into a sector in Turkiye due to its high employment rate and volume of budget, international humanitarian assitance has started to affect especially the regions, where almost %65 of Syrians live, including the provinces of Mersin, Adana, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kilis, Sanliurfa, Mardin, Kahramanmaras and Osmaniye both positively and negatively. In this study, International Humanitarian Assistance has been analyzed with its Coordinardination dimension. Firstly, the study has been focused on international humanitarian aid, grant sources, international humanitarian aid organizations, NGO activities and coordination. Additionally, current coordination structure has been studied by analyzing the coordination structure of humanitarian assistance and problems related to it. As a result of this, some regulations to improve current coordination structure have been discussed. Within the framework of the study, international/national aid organizations, public institutions, regional development agencies, NGO staff, academicians and chamber of artisans, all of which operate in the provinces of Mersin, Adana, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kilis, Sanliurfa, Mardin, Kahramanmaras and Osmaniye, where almost %65 of Syrians live, have been interviewed. As a result of the research conducted with in-depth interview technique, based on the data received from a total of 73 participants (from public institutions, INGOs and humanitarian assistance beneficiaries) who participated in the research, it has been determined that there are serious problems in terms of justice and equality in the distribution of assistance and it has been determined that there is a need for a coordination mechanism that will ensure that humanitarian assistance is delivered equally and fairly throughout Türkiye and that will direct aid organizations according to the needs and socio-economic infrastructure of the provincies. Almost all of the participants find it useful to create a common database through a central coordination mechanism, where information is stored and assistance provided can be registered on a system preventing dublication.