ANKARA, Oct 4 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Surveys carried out by Turkish experts showed that, tendency to return home among Syrian refugees is decreasing.
Experts from TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Social Policy Research Centre, presented a briefing to the Turkish parliament’s commission on migration and integration on Oct 2, on the results of recent field surveys with 22,000 Syrians in Turkey.
At the meeting, Deputy Director of the Centre, Basak Yavcan, emphasised that, tendency to return to Syria among refugees in Turkey has decreased year by year, and the ratio of those who say “I will not go back under any circumstances” has risen from 26 percent to 33 percent, according to surveys.
The rate of Syrians in Turkey who say “I would certainly like to return, if the war ends in Syria, even if the ruling will not be the one I prefer,” fell from nine percent to five percent, Yavcan said.
These ratios are decreasing each year, she said, recalling that the Syrian crisis has entered its ninth year. “We can see from all the examples in the world that, after the fifth year, their tendency to go back seriously decline. Persistence trends are increasing,” she emphasised.
Since the start of the Syrian war in 2011, Turkey has adopted an open-door policy, offering shelter, education, health care and a safe haven for Syrians fleeing the conflict in their country.
Yet, in recent years, Turkey has been increasingly disturbed by several problems that came along with the more than 3.5-million Syrian refugees it hosts, mainly security concerns, integration problems, and a growing public resentment towards the refugees.
Turkey has not seen serious conflicts between Turkish nationals and Syrian refugees yet, but the local population’s outlook on refugees is getting problematic.
“In our public opinion polls with the Turkish people, we see that the attitude towards Syrians has gradually turned negative,” said the expert.
Most of the grown Syrian refugees, nearly 1.2 million, are in the work force, but only fewer than 80,000 of them are registered employees.
Elaborating on the schooling of Syrians in Turkey, Yavcan cited the fact that there are over one million Syrians that should go to school, but approximately 65 percent of them are schooled.
The surveys also showed that involvement of children in labour force plays an important role, along with early marriage of Syrian girls. There are nearly 27,000 registered Syrian students in universities, she added.
