Abstract:

This research is about the sense of belonging of Syrian refugees, which is directly affected by the socio-cultural integration policies in Turkey and the relations established with the local community. In the research, the social and cultural dimensions of the integration policies, which foresee the active participation of all members of the society in economic, political, social, and cultural life and are handled in the context of the reciprocity principle, are discussed. This research was conducted with a perspective that accepts the immanence of different dimensions of integration but prioritizes the socio-cultural dimension. In this research, it is aimed to understand the social and individual sense of belonging of Syrian refugees in Ankara. For this purpose, 10 in-depth interviews were conducted with Syrian refugees living in Ankara's Altındağ and Mamak districts through a semi-structured form. The data obtained from these interviews were analyzed on the basis of social, cultural, religious, spatial, and class belongings within the framework of the socio-cultural integration perceptions and expectations of Syrian refugees. In the interviews, it was seen that the evaluations made within the framework of socio-cultural integration and sense of belonging were mainly discussed together with the experiences of social exclusion. On the other hand, self-identity definitions, which have an important place in the experience of socio-cultural integration, are evaluated by refugees in the context of their current negative “Syrian” identity, and they state that their sense of belonging cannot develop as a result of the pressure this identity creates on them.

Keywords: