The role of social capital in Syrian entrepreneurs creating an ethnic economy: The case of Izmir

The biggest impact of the Syrian civil war ongoing since 2011 has been migration globally. From the wave of immigration spreading from Syria to the world, among the most affected countries it is located in Turkey. This research was conducted in order to address Syrian entrepreneurs in Turkey. The study says, "what are the effects of social capital on Syrian entrepreneurs?" looking for an answer to the question. A field study based on qualitative research methods was conducted with Syrian entrepreneurs in İzmir, which is one of the border cities and metropolitan cities preferred by Syrians for immigration. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 17 Syrian entrepreneurs, who are active on the axis of the study and were reached with a snowball sample. The findings obtained as a result of the field research conducted in this context are in the direction of that Syrian entrepreneurs in Izmir use their social networks and connections in the way of entrepreneurship and offer an ethnic entrepreneurship model. The most important factor affecting the development phase of ethnic entrepreneurship is that it develops depending on the subjective social capital network each individual has. Therefore, it is also among the findings that social networks, which are vital for Syrians, are a source of closed networks among themselves and stimulate the ethnic economy. As a result, specific to this study it was found meaningful that social capital has positive effects on Syrian entrepreneurs' survival.