SDLC 110 Turkish- Culture Post #5 Turkish Public's Response to Syrian Refugees

[Noraya Razzaque]

When I was in Istanbul, I noticed a lot of Syrian children and street performers in tourist areas such as Taksim. I ended up having a discussion with a new Turkish friend in my time there about the refugees. At the time, I had commented on how unfortunate it was that there were so many homeless Syrian refugees in the streets we saw and what policies Turkey had about them. I was taken aback by how irritated she seemed at the situation- she had responded with a frustrated, "the Turkish government has done a lot for them, there are camps, but they don't stay there. They should stay inside their camps and not come out." She then went on to talk about the crime rates in the cities and how the "astray" Syrians were the culprits. She had an especially unfavorable opinion of Syrian men and said women were less safe because of it. I don't know how true her perceptions were, but it made me wonder about the general Turkish public's opinion of Syrian refugees. I want to learn about Turkey's past and current policies, the pros and cons, what is being done to improve the negative aspects of those policies, and discover the public's sentiment towards the government's reaction to all of this.