The refugee problem among contemporary Turkish children's and youth literature

Günümüz Türk çocuk ve gençlik edebiyatının sorun odaklı yönünün ön plana çıkmasıyla birlikte toplumsal konulara duyarlı çocuk ve gençlik edebiyatı eserlerinin de sayısı artmıştır. With the coming into prominence of problem-oriented aspects of contemporary Turkish children's and youth literature, the number of children's and youth literature works sensitive to social issues has increased. Refugee-related works of children's and youth literature is important in terms of involving many contents which break prejudices and make the reader empathize more effectively, and also providing a preliminary experience that prepares you for life. The issue of refugee which is mostly studied in translated works attracted the attention of Turkish authors with the emergence of problem-oriented Turkish children's literature. Therefore, refugee-related books in Turkish children's and youth literature have been published more often since 2012. In this study, it is emphasized that, by looking at the refugee problem from the perspective of Turkish writers, every issue can be entered into the fictional world of literature. The concepts of refugee, asylum seeker, and immigrant are discussed and how the representation of being a refugee in Turkish children and youth literature is examined. From the point of view of the works of children and youth literature written between 2012-2019, it was concluded that the fictional world of literature is not independent of society and a problem-oriented children's and youth literature is also possible. Keywords: Refugee, Migration, Defector, Children's Literature, Empathy, Representation