Invented spaces beyond legal arrangements :|living together with Syrian refugees and practices of neighborhood associations

Abstract

Refugee incorporation literature tends to concentrate on macro-level indicators of incorporation that is mostly drawn on policy level analysis. On the other hand, refugee incorporation also has a strong societal connotation. Through merging both approaches, this thesis focuses on the local dimensions of Syrians’ incorporation process via examining the activities of two neighborhood associations located in the districts of Şişli and Küçükçekmece, in İstanbul, which are, indeed, established against urban transformation. Although the aims of these two associations are quite different than acting within the refugee field, both also provide support for Syrians living in their living space. These associations oppose a top-down model of urban transformation process by demanding their rights to the city, and they try to destabilize exclusionary transformation mechanisms. I find it worth focusing on neighborhood associations that come from a perspective of establishing solidarity relations with Syrians in their own living spaces and to analyze the role of grassroots movements in the incorporation process of Syrian refugees. With this thesis, I address the question of why the native communities in some localities act in solidarity with Syrians, while a significant part of the society is taking an exclusionary stance against refugees. The activities of these associations have the potential to alleviate the deficiencies in the legal regulations the state has implemented so far.