Suriyeli Sığınmacı Çocukların Entegrasyonuna Yönelik Kurumsal Bir Modelleme Girişimi: Reyhanlı Eğitim Köyü

Abstract

Beyond spatial displacement, migrations have a challenging nature, including the unraveling scope of cultural, political, ethnic and religious codes that constitute the ties of mental and social belonging, as well as the reconstruction within social reality of the migrated region. Since 2011 the political instability and civil war process in Syria has turned into a reality that led to hundreds of thousands of people to have died and millions of people embarked on a forced migration journey. The difficulties that emerge in migration processes undoubtedly affect children the most. This is because of the fact that the children, whose physical and psychological developments are not yet completed, are victims of various traumatic events, especially in violent conflict environments such as the civil war in Syria. Children who witness the casualties in the war environment may face a series of problems such as physical violence, harassment and abuse during the migration process involved. Furthermore, for children, who have to move away from their family, friendship and education, adapt to the new environment in their new migrated places, the well-being periods are prolonged considerably. In this context, the fact that approximately four million Syrians who have taken refugees, 45% of whom are the children under the age of eighteen in Turkey, has particularly been pointed out the importance in the studies focusing the integration of children as asylum seekers. Indeed, for the Syrians who do not have a return agenda yet to their home countries, it is possible to create a systematic application for asylum-seeking children by the society in Turkey in the medium and long term. At this stage, non-governmental organizations should be involved in the process actively by taking the initiative as the practices developed by the state organs towards the integration of Syrian children do not seem to have reached the required levels. In this study, which has been implemented in Hatay province as an international civil society project named as “Reyhanli Education village” model, refugee children have been investigated in terms of ensuring their integration in Turkey as an example of an institutional enterprise application.