Abstract:

The ongoing Syrian conflict is one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of the 21st century with at least 5,5 million refugees displaced outside of Syria. According to UNHCR, the worst country hit by the refugee wave is Turkey, currently hosting more than 3,5 million refugees with temporary protection. Turkey initially applied Open Door Policy and welcomed refugees as guests, however, evidences of the shift from welcoming attitudes towards more unwelcoming attitudes are increasing, placing Ankara under a pressure. This article is identifying Turkish people’s perceptions on Syrian refugees residing in Turkey on a survey conducted on a sample of 161 respondents either pro-government or pro-opposition, the survey consists of two parts, the first one is including the total number of participants while the second part is dividing participants into two groups of voters (52 participants per one group). The outcome of the analysis is that significant differences can be observed between the voters of government alliance (Cumhur İttifakı) and voters of opposition alliance (Millet İttifakı). Voters of opposition alliance tended much more to negative attitudes, prejudices and discriminative opinions than voters of conservative government alliance. Government alliance voters turned out to be much more benevolent to the presence of refugees or their accepting and significantly less concerned about the security situation or character of Turkey, while opposition alliance voters expressed stronger security concerns over the presence of Syrian refugees and they refer to them as a possible conservative threat to a secular character of Turkey. Negative attitudes together with closed borders during the alarming situation in Syrian provinces of Aleppo and Idlib might be a warning sign of a possible humanitarian catastrophe when hundreds of thousands of refugees currently trapped in Idlib will be denied from entering Turkey.

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