The social integration process and problems of Syrians who came to Turkey after 2011: A field research in Aydin city

In today's globalized world, migration movements being occurred in many continents have increased in recent years due to different reasons. State of necessity due to civil war and violence as well as the volunteerism such desire to achieve better living conditions has paved the way for the acceleration of the phenomenon of migration. Arab Spring, which began towards the end of 2010 in Syria, has caused serious chaos and break up in the country, so this conflict atmosphere has created a serious wave of immigration towards Turkey since 2011. In this study, it is aimed to gain knowledge about integration process of Syrians who necessarily migrated to Aydın city after 2011 and were given "temporary protection" status by Government of Turkey by determining their perception towards the society they live together and towards the city where they reside in. Also it is aimed to detect socio-economic and socio-cultural problems of Syrians and to find some solutions for these problems. In the study, a questionnaire form consisting of demographic, socio-cultural and socio-economic questions were developed, "5-point Likert scale", "multiple-choice questions" and "yes-no questions" were used, also the questions were prepared as close-ended. Within the scope of the survey, depending on issues such as the degree of closeness to the Turks in the cultural and religious sense, the state of exposure to any verbal or physical harassment, the course of relations with their neighbors from Aydın, the tendency to accept Turkish citizenship, the size of the support provided by the state and private sector on employment and level of rent prices, it has been analyzed how much Syrians have integrated to Aydın and whether they are happy or not to live in this city. In the study, the reasons of migration by Syrians to Turkey and possibilities that make them stay here were examined specifically for Aydın. In this context, among some factors such as security, employment, cultural proximity to Turks, it was pointed out which of them became more effective in the start of migration and persistence after migration. Study gains importance in order to understand how integration process goes within the perception of a foreign community considering the physical conditions of the Syrians, to examine what kind of problems displaced people have individually or collectively in the phase for adaptation to a new country, also to give some ideas to decision-makers and decision-performers for carrying out integration process of foreigners better in the long run.