Perception of local people of Kahramanmaraş region toward migrant entrepreneurs

The phenomenon of migration is one of the biggest problems that needs to be addressed. Migration is known as human mobility that occurs for various reasons. People have changed their settlements for economic, political and social reasons for generations. In this research, it is aimed to examine the perception of the local people about the entrepreneurial experiences of Syrian immigrants who migrated to Turkey after the Syrian civil war we witnessed recently. The study consists of three parts. In the first part, the concept of migration, its historical background, types of migration, migration theories and the effects of international migration are discussed. At the same time, in this section, the definition of the concept of enterprise and entrepreneurship, its importance, types of entrepreneurship, factors that affect and hinder entrepreneurship are examined. In the second part of the study, the definition, importance and benefits of the concept of immigrant entrepreneurship, immigrant entrepreneurship approaches, migration movement to Turkey and Syrian immigrant entrepreneurs were examined. In the last part of the study, a semi-structured interview study was conducted to determine the perception level of the local people in the Kahramanmaraş region towards Syrian entrepreneurs. The findings of the study concluded that there are many underlying reasons for the local people's negative thoughts towards immigrant entrepreneurs, that the rights granted to immigrants disturb the local people, and that immigrants and immigrant entrepreneurship will be viewed more favorably if this discrimination does not exist and equality is achieved in the economic field.