The Emergence of the Enterprising Refugee Discourse and Differential Inclusion in Turkey's Changing Migration Politics (original) (raw)

Refugee integration and entrepreneurship: The case of Syrians in Turkey

Middle East Technical University , 2019

This research aimed at contributing to the policy design for refugee integration in Turkey by presenting the potential contributions of the prioritization of labor market policies and entrepreneurship. Following the Syrian refugee inflow, Turkey was slow in constructing a framework to provide non-European asylum-seekers with a legal status allowing them access to education and health services, but even slower in access to the labor market. Moreover, Syrian refugees were met with policies that seek the provision of basic needs, with little regard for livelihoods support that would comprise the foundation of an official integration scheme. As a result, Syrian refugees integration to various dimensions of Turkey, its institutions and society have been uneven at best. Hence, Turkey must establish a system aimed at facilitating access to jobs and most importantly to entrepreneurial initiatives for refugees. The study views that providing refugees pathways to self-sufficiency comprises a vital step to expediting their integration. In this regard, literature review is carried-out on the concept of integration and its evolution, followed by an analysis of integration policies in Sweden so as to provide comparisons with the integration policies designed and implemented in Turkey regarding Syrians under Temporary Protection, with a specific focus on labor market policies. Lastly, the study will present the results of surveys conducted with Syrian entrepreneurs in Gaziantep to observe whether the conclusion arrived in country comparisons hold true in field research. Correspondingly, this study aims at contributing to the policy design for refugee integration through entrepreneurship in Turkey.

Syrian Refugee Entrepreneurship in Turkey: Integration and the Use of Immigrant Capital in the Informal Economy

Social Inclusion, 2019

This study focuses on small-scale entrepreneurship of Syrian refugees in Turkey. It analyses in a Bourdieusian way how they utilize cultural, social, economic and symbolic capital, and reveals their start-up and sustainability strategies. It is based on 24 in-depth interviews with Syrian small entrepreneurs who started up new businesses after 2011, in Istanbul, Gaziantep, and Hatay. It describes the entrepreneurial opportunity structure and the significance of the informal economy and analyses Syrians' utilization of various forms of capital in small entrepreneurship and relations to integration. The main finding indicates that the informal economy-as the main site of such entrepreneurship-eases the start-up process but limits ongoing business and integration.

From Refugee to Entrepreneur: Challenges of Syrian Refugee Entrepreneurs in Turkey

Migration and Entrepreneurship in Global Context, 2024

From Refugee to Entrepreneur: Understanding the Challenges of Refugee Entrepreneurs in Istanbul Abstract This study focuses on micro, small, and medium enterprises established by Syrian refugees in Istanbul since 2011. In-depth interviews with 12 refugee entrepreneurs and 12 key stakeholders will provide valuable data to understand the socio-economic inclusion of refugees through entrepreneurship. Exploring the legal and administrative difficulties of refugee entrepreneurs can contribute to the better design of facilitating environment for refugee entrepreneurs. The findings suggest that there are three main legal and administrative challenges: temporary protection status, restricted mobility, and difficulties in getting work permission and business registration. Stakeholders also underlined that entrepreneurial support programs are fragmented and have serious deficiencies in monitoring, auditing, and impact analysis. Social enterprises and cooperatives are very important for inclusive and gender-specific entrepreneurial support but their legal infrastructure is not fully established yet. Keywords Refugee entrepreneurs, employment, finance, economic integration, social entrepreneurship

Integration through Exploitation: Syrians in Turkey, eds. Gaye Yılmaz, İsmail Doğa Karatepe, Tolga Tören

Rainer Hampp Verlag, 2019

This book is about the largest displacement crisis and resettlement of our time. However, it is not another piece that elaborately describes the appalling situation of Syrian workers in Turkey, but explores how they are integrated into the lower ends of the value chain in several sectors. The book seeks answers of what has been largely overlooked in the literature on the question of how labor processes have been shaped in various labor-intensive sectors by class and identity. Key words: Migration, labor market, Syrian refugees, Turkey

The Syrian Refugees’ Entrepreneurship Activities in Turkey: Gaziantep Case

2020

After a civil war that started with street demonstrations in Syria and the end was uncertain, millions of people left their countries and migrated to different countries. All the countries of the world are witnessing one of the most serious migrations in human history. The majority of the people who emigrated from Syria took refuge in Turkey. The Syrians were given temporary protection status in Turkey. As the world's most refugee-hosting country, Turkey has maintained its humanitarian attitude towards Syrria's the human tragedy. Syrians entrance to Turkey, stay, some legal regulations related to their official status have been made. Education policies have been strengthened to ensure the integration of Syrians into social and economic life. By solving the problem of language and through vocational courses improving the employment policy in Turkey, the doors of business and investment world are opening for Syrian refugees in Turkey. The national and international business activities, investments, and bank deposit accounts of Syrian entrepreneurs play an important role both in terms of contributing to the country's economy and normalizing the life of Syrians.

The Intersection of Labour and Refugee Policies in the Middle East and Turkey: Exploring the Dynamics of “Permanent Temporariness”

2020

The majority of Syrian refugees who have migrated to neighbouring countries in the Middle East and Turkey are faced with being “permanently temporary,” whether this temporariness defines their legal status, or state actor policies targeting refugees. The permanent temporariness of Syrian refugees in the region, while reinforced by various (non-)state actors, and produced differently based on the history and asylum framework of nation states in the region, aims primarily at incorporating Syrian refugees into local economies as surplus labour. This paper seeks to examine the incorporation of refugees as labour in relation to the development of migration governance in the region. Refugees as labour is used to conceptualize how refugees, as a type of mobile population, are approached as a desirable source of labour power due to their precarious position and permanently temporary presence. As such, the paper critically evaluates the ways in which refugees as labour are normalised. Lastly...

Integration through Exploitation: Syrians in Turkey

This book is about the largest displacement crisis and resettlement of our time. However, it is not another piece that elaborately describes the appalling situation of Syrian workers in Turkey, but explores how they are integrated into the lower ends of the value chain in several sectors. The book seeks answers of what has been largely overlooked in the literature on the question of how labor processes have been shaped in various labor-intensive sectors by class and identity.

Yılmaz, G., İ.D. Karatepe & T. Tören (2019) “Integration through Exploitation: Syrians in Turkey", München: Rainer Hampp Verlag.

Integration through Exploitation: Syrians in Turkey, "Labor and Globalization" Volume 17, Edited by Christoph Scherrer

"This book is about the largest displacement crisis and resettlement of our time. However, it is not another piece that elaborately describes the appalling situation of Syrian workers in Turkey, but explores how they are integrated into the lower ends of the value chain in several sectors. The book seeks answers of what has been largely overlooked in the literature on the question of how labor processes have been shaped in various labor-intensive sectors by class and identity." Prof. Dr. Christoph Scherrer

Asylum Seeker Identity and the Labor Market: Syrian Asylum Seeker in Turkey

Rainer Hampp Verlag, 2019

This work will focus on the term “asylum seeker”. Interestingly, although Syrian asylum seekers have sought refuge in Turkey, they have not been given the status of “refugee”. Why this has happened and its effect on the construction of identity as well as in the labor market will be discussed in this chapter. One of the fundamental reasons why those who come to Turkey seek refuge but cannot find it, why millions cannot take advantage of refugee status, and why they find themselves in the labor market as asylum seekers, can be found in the specific conditions in which the “immigrant identity” is constructed in Turkey. By defining “immigrant identity” and its derivative “asylum seeker” as an informal identity in the labor market, this chapter will explain the factors that lead to the construction of these terms. With reference to a continuing spatial differentiation and the actions of the host workforce towards asylum seekers, the function of asylum seeker identity in the labor market will be explored.