Perception of Syrian refugees on access to public services: The case of İzmir

The Arab Spring movement, which emerged in Tunisia in 2010, created a significant change and transformation in the Middle East geography. Syria felt the effects of this movement in 2011, and this situation led to the civil war in Syria in March 2011. As a result of the civil war, the biggest wave of immigration movement in the world has begun since World War II. Turkey has been one of the countries mostly affected by this wave of migration and receiving the largest numbers of asylum applications. As a result, 3.690.896 Syrians applied for asylum in Turkey and have been granted temporary protection status as of July 2021. The aim of this thesis is to identify the perception of Syrian asylum seekers regarding access to public services. In this context, in the first part of the thesis, public policies and the phenomenon of migration are examined in a conceptual framework. In the second part, public services created and implemented for Syrian refugees are mentioned. The last part of the thesis consists of the data and findings obtained as a result of the survey conducted with 300 Syrian refugees in the city of İzmir. According to the results of the survey conducted with 300 Syrian asylum seekers by selecting the sample from the city of İzmir, it was concluded that the perceptions of Syrian refugees regarding access to employment, education, health, shelter and security services were generally positive and it was determined that they tend to stay in Turkey. On the other hand, it has been observed that there are some problems about the issue of social integration arising from cultural differences. Keywords: Asylum Seekers, Public Services, Syria, International Migration, Integration Policies.