Food Consumption Expenditure Patterns of Syrian Refugees under Temporary Protection Status: A Case Study of Hatay

The concept of migration is a deeply rooted one in the world. This multi-layered structure, due to Anatolia's status as a significant route for migrants for centuries, has led to the discussion of migration and the advantages and disadvantages it brings. Since the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, the state has had a significant immigrant population, first with immigrants from the Balkans and then from the surrounding regions. The civil wars and political crises that have occurred in the Middle East in recent years have forced the population living in this region to migrate. Considering its geopolitical position and migrant policy, Turkey has become a target country for mass migration. In this context, there are many individual and structural causes of migration and these causes have had important effects on the formation of migration and migrants. Mutual social and cultural interactions of immigrants and the population in the region receiving immigration, reasons such as education, health, participation in the labour market have influenced the shaping of immigrants' lives. Aside from the social and cultural interactions of refugees, their presence in the labour market has important economic consequences. In the study, the refugee population concentrated in the South Eastern Anatolia (SEE) region is the 3rd most populous when compared to the domestic population on a provincial basis. The province of Hatay, which has a refugee population, is examined. March May 2022 In this context, face-to-face surveys are conducted with 133 refugee households residing in Hatay and the factors affecting the food expenditures of the related households are analysed using the Working-Lesser model for 6 food sub-product groups. As a result of the study, it is determined that the share allocated to food and non-alcoholic beverages in total expenditures among households is much higher than the average of Turkey (22.78%) with 47.17%; the share allocated to flour and bakery products in food expenditures (26.51%) is higher than the average of Turkey (17.8%). In this context, as a result of the econometric model estimation developed for food sub-product groups, it is determined that the share of total food expenditure and expenditure on flour and bakery products would decrease as the education level of the head of the household increases and the household size decreases. For fruits and vegetables, meat and similar products, it is found that the share of expenditure increases as the total expenditure increases. Also, the flexibilities for these two food sub-product groups are found to be 1.55 and 1.45, respectively; and for all other sub-groups, the flexibilities are found to be less than 1.