Citizenship on the threshold: Citizenship experience and identity formation of Syrian refugees in Turkey

The thesis aims to comprehend the citizenship experience-perception, identity, and formation of belonging of naturalized Syrian refugees who fled to Turkey in the aftermath of the 2011 Syrian civil war. The central questions of the thesis focus on how naturalized Syrians define and conceptualize citizenship; and how citizenship affects the participation, citizenship perception, identity, and belonging of Syrians interrelatedly. The study critically evaluates the literature and discusses the data gathered from in-depth interviews with Syrian refugees in Istanbul, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, and Mardin using qualitative methods. The outputs were analyzed with the thematic analysis method, and the findings were discussed in three main themes, namely (1) the naturalization process, (2) citizenship experience, and (3) citizenship perception and identity formation. Three themes are closely associated with each other. First of all, it was observed that when geographical and cultural proximity are consolidated with legal status, it provides a strong foundation in the identity formation process. It was also discovered that naturalization through exceptional citizenship and the uncertainty of naturalization policy affect citizenship perception and experience. It was found that deepening perception of social and symbolic boundaries during contact with the host society and in political and public discourses negatively affects both the meaning of citizenship and the formation of belonging. The exceptionality of obtaining citizenship, the political discourse which feeds the perception that citizenship will be revoked, and the experience and perception of rejection by the host society eclipse the permanency of citizenship and create a state of being on the threshold. Citizenship on the threshold erodes the security and stability dimension of citizenship, constituting the essence of refugee citizenship. This thesis contributes to the literature by amplifying the earlier studies, which argued that refugees instrumentalize citizenship to guarantee security and mobility, in the Turkish context, and by coining the term "citizenship on the threshold."