Investigation of the citizienship awareness level of Syrians acquiring Turkish citizienship

The Syrian civil unrest that commenced in 2011 and had global ramifications led to the settlement of individuals of Syrian nationality in other countries and the commencement of their lives there. The country where Syrian nationals settled in the greatest number was Turkey, a neighbouring country. The majority of Syrians who settled in Turkey continue to reside there. In addition, they have obtained Turkish citizenship if they meet certain conditions. Syrian asylum seekers or citizens have sent their children to school in the Republic of Turkey. It is notable that Syrian students were subjected to the education system of the Republic of Turkey. In this context, between the 4th and 7th grades, students took the social studies course, the main purpose of which was to raise effective citizens. The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate the level of citizenship consciousness of the students who have completed the social studies course, i.e. 8th grade Syrian students. The main purpose of the research was to identify solutions to the problem and sub-problems. To achieve this, an explanatory sequential design, which is one of the mixed research models, was employed. This design involves first completing the quantitative part of the research and then the qualitative part by making the quantitative part more explanatory. In the quantitative phase of the study, Ünal's (2019) Citizenship Consciousness Scale was employed to assess the participants. In the qualitative phase, an interview form was developed based on the insights of field experts. The sample for the quantitative phase was selected through criterion sampling, with 202 individuals ultimately included in the study. In the qualitative part of the study, a sample of 12 volunteer students with good Turkish-speaking skills was selected using the purposive sampling method. The students were assigned codes ( K1, K2... K6, E1, E2... E6 etc.) and their personal information was protected. The findings obtained from the participants were analysed using descriptive statistical methods for the quantitative part and content analysis techniques for the qualitative part. The data analysis revealed that the citizenship consciousness of Turkish citizen students of Syrian origin was at a medium level. Various suggestions were presented for enhancing the citizenship awareness of these students. The thesis is comprised of five main chapters. The first chapter presents an introduction to the topic, a description of the problem situation, the purpose and importance of the research, and a summary of the research questions. The second chapter provides an overview of the theoretical information and related research studies. The third chapter outlines the method and the subheadings of the method. The fourth chapter presents the findings and interpretation. The fifth chapter offers conclusions and recommendations, a bibliography, and appendices.