Making a life in Turkey: Syrian women's marriages with Turkish men

This thesis explores cross-border marriages between Syrian refugee women and Turkish men in Ankara, focusing on how these women navigate forced migration, legal precarity, and gender constraints through their decision to marry, post-marital experiences, and reflection on these unions. Adopting a qualitative methodology, the study exclusively draws on in-depth interviews with nine Syrian women who entered civil marriages with Turkish citizens. Although the participants were not a homogeneous group, this study found that marriage often served as a means through which refugee women entered into patriarchal bargains to secure protection, permanence, and a future for their children. Rather than being a purely emotional choice, marriage functioned as a strategic response to the uncertainties of forced migration and gendered insecurities. The findings highlight the need for policies that respond to the structural vulnerabilities shaping these marriage decisions and address the bureaucratic challenges refugee women face after marriage.