The relationship between the current experiences of syrian refugees living in Turkey and political radicalization

Official URL: http://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b1648989 (Table of Contents)

In my thesis, I discuss the mass migration of Syrian refugees to Turkey as a result of the civil war in Syria at the start of 2011. The Syrian civil war has become the largest global conflict in the contemporary international arena and accounts as Turkey’s largest influx of refugees in its modern history. The complexity of factors involved in the experiences of Syrian refugees including assimilation, integration, belonging, traumas, grievances, and identities in their host country would be indicative of political radicalization as suggested by mainstream literature in the field. However, the results of the semi-structured, open-ended interviews I conducted on Syrian refugees living in Turkey contradict the contemporary theories on radicalization involved in the development of radical ideologies and violent radical actions. The ways Syrian refugees perceive their experience with the Turkish government and society is pivotal to the overall findings of this research as is the role of the media’s portrayal of Syrians in Turkey. Thus, the overall goal of this research is to provide new insights and contribute to the ongoing study of radicalization by asking whether or not the current experiences of Syrian refugees living in Turkey will lead to their political radicalization.