Women's ngos in Turkey and Syrian refugee women: An analysis of evolving attitudes and policies since 2011

The primary purpose of this thesis is to understand how the women's non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Turkey have been responding the Syrian migration since 2011 and explore their attitudes and policies towards Syrian refugee women that are placed under the temporary protection regime in Turkey due to the Syrian civil war and will be referred as refugees in the thesis. Through a qualitative methodology based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with some of the selected women NGOs and broad review of websites of the women NGOs, this thesis will analyze the evolving responses, attitudes and policies, projects and works of women NGOs. The study will assess whether it is possible to talk of solidarity ties between women's NGOs and Syrian refugee women while portraying their general views of Syrian migration. The thesis will analyze women's NGOs' perspective and response through periodization and in terms of their awareness, capacity and contextual factors of state-civil society relations and rising anti-immigrant, anti-gender and racist attitudes in Turkey in the last few years. The thesis aims to go beyond the existing studies and shed light on dual vulnerabilities of Syrian refugee women, shaped by intersecting factors of gender and migration, and the systemic barriers that hinder their access to essential services and rights. The NGOs' efforts to address these challenges highlight themes of empowerment, solidarity, and advocacy, often constrained by limited resources and socio-political context of Turkey.