Publication: Reading New Urban Practice in Syrian Neighbourhoods in Ankara Through Forced Migration
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Date
2022
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AESOP
Abstract
As the world is dealing with a Syrian refugee crisis, many countries have been faced with these changes in the urban environment. Especially in Turkey, this crisis has caused socio-spatial problems for both refugees and Turkish citizens. Turkey is one of the most preferred countries by Syrian refugees due to its geographical proximity and has been accepting Syrian refugees who have faced forced migration due to the ongoing war in Syria since 2011. The main reasons why asylum seekers prefer this country are spatial proximity, the existence of a common socio-cultural structure and the immigration policies implemented by the Turkish government (Harunoğulları and Cengiz, 2014). According to the statistics of Presidency of Migration Management of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Turkey dated April 2022, Syrian refugees under temporary protection constitute approximately 3.7 million of the total 4 million refugees and asylum seekers from other nationalities.
The capacity of refugee camps for Syrians under temporary protection who were forced to leave their country was not sufficient for the large number of refugees. For this reason, the number of refugees, who have the aim of accessing shelter and employment opportunities, in the cities has increased rapidly. Thus, a new phenomenon called "Urban Refugees", which tries to be integrated into cities socially, spatially, economically has emerged as a daily life practice. However, at this point, which has passed a decade of migration, the phenomenon of transience has lost its sustainability. While the urban environment has been affected by this social trend, there has been a need for more resilient, efficient and long-term effective incentives, alternatives, strategies and solutions for dynamic geographical crisis spaces to create a more socially comprehensive structure.
The aim of this study is to make a socio-spatial city reading through Önder and Ulubey Neighbourhoods of Altındağ Municipality, where Syrian refugees are concentrated in the city of Ankara. The neighbourhoods are located in the Altındağ district of Ankara, near the Siteler industrial zone, which can be considered as a potential employment area for urban refugees.
The concept of the spatial triad developed by the French sociologist and philosopher Henri Lefebvre will be used in the examples of these neighbourhoods to analyse the daily spatial practices of Syrian urban refugees and their representations in the field, and to read their spatial production. In this article, a comprehensive literature review on spatial triad and forced migration was made. With field studies, the spatial production process in the daily lives of refugees was tried to be understood and empirical studies such as survey analysis, statistical evaluations, and quantification of qualitative data were carried out on Syrian urban refugees in the aforementioned neighbourhoods.
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Keywords
Turkey, Syria, urban refugees, Önder, Ulubey, Altındağ Municipality, Siteler industrial zone, Ankara