The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic period on the employment of Syrian asylum seekers and their perception of social integration: The case of Adana province

The Syrian Civil War remains the source of the world's largest refugee crisis even on its tenth anniversary. Millions of people have been forced to leave their countries in the hope of finding a safer place to live due to the violence, conflict and human rights violations they have experienced in their own countries. As the country hosting the largest number of Syrians in the world, Turkey is facing many problems caused by the influx of refugees, as well as the problem of integrating Syrian asylum seekers into the workforce and social life. Especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, which emerged in the last months of 2019 and affected the whole world in 2020, this problem has become even more obvious. This thesis examines the ways in which the Covid-19 pandemic process has affected the employment of Syrian asylum seekers, focusing on the periods before and after the Covid-19 pandemic crisis in the Turkish labor market. The analysis of the face to face semi-structured interviews conducted with 15 Syrian asylum seekers and 15 citizens of the Republic of Turkey in Adana, has revealed that the Covid-19 Pandemic period has negatively affected the labor force participation and general living standards of the Syrian refugees who already have been at a disadvantage in society compared to local citizens. Based on the research findings, in addition to the problems experienced by the public in the framework of the economic shrinking experienced during the pandemic period, the sharing of public incentives and financial resources with Syrian refugees caused citizens to exhibit discriminatory and exclusionary attitudes towards Syrian refugees. It also harms the socio-cultural integration processes that have been developed by the government between the Syrian refugees and citizens through various policies.