Page 167 - Syrians in Türkiye - Special Report

GRAND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF TÜRKİYE THE OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTION

proximity is important for social acceptance, it is necessary to provide comprehensive
information to the Turkish society and to develop a communication strategy in order to
make it sustainable. The process should be carried out with the support of the Turkish
community, and consideration should be given to the concerns of the society and the
concerns about the Syrians.

◊ Local Governments and Integration

Only 7.45% of Syrians in Türkiye reside in temporary accommodation centers, while the
remaining more than 92% live in all provinces of Türkiye as “urban refugees” together with
Turkish society; local governments are the institutions which the Syrian refugees living
in urban areas primarily contact first. Considering Türkiye’s population of 79.8 million,
it is known that the ratio of Syrians in Türkiye to the country’s entire population has
reached 4%. However, in provinces such as Adana, Adıyaman, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş,
Kayseri, Kilis, Mardin, Mersin, Osmaniye, Gaziantep, and Sanliurfa, the ratio of
Syrians to the urban population is above the average of Türkiye. This rate is close to
100% in Kilis. There are also a number of districts, especially in the border regions,
where the Syrian population ratio is over 50% of the total population. It is known that
the municipalities are faced with some problems in providing services for this refugee
influx. The resources transferred to the municipalities from the central government
constitute the most important part of the income sources of the municipalities, and
they are the shares which are determined on the basis of the number of Turkish citizens.
However, in particular, the resources that the municipalities receive from the central
budget on the basis of the population must be calculated taking into account the refugee
population. It is inexplicable that the resources Kilis received from the central budget
were the same in 2011 and 2017, despite the fact that the province hosts a number of
Syrians as high as the local population. In this context, consideration should be given
to the urgent needs of refugees, grievances, and the necessity for the urgent creation
of new capacities, as practiced in Europe for refugees, in determining the share to be
allocated from the budget to local governments. In other words, it should be possible
for the municipalities to serve also non-citizens and to receive a share from the central
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budget depending on the number of refugees living there. Local integration, which is
the most important dimension in the integration process, can be realized through local
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governments and NGOs. In other words, local governments are the most important
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For a comprehensive study on local governments and refugees in Türkiye, see M. M. Erdoğan. “From
Disengagement to Integration of Urban Refugees: Syrian Refugees and the Process Management of
Municipalities: The Case of Istanbul (Istanbul: Marmara Union of Municipalities Publishing, 2017).
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Oğuzhan Erdoğan and Fatma Dağli Erdoğan. “The Role of Local Governments in the Integration of
Refugees in Türkiye” (presentation, 11th International Symposium on Public Administration, Elazığ, Türkiye,
September, 28-30, 2017).

SYRIANS IN TÜRKİYE SPECIAL REPORT 167