Assessing the Civil Society’s Role in Refugee Integration in Turkey: NGO-R as a New Typology

Abstract

Abstract After the Syrian refugee influx in Turkey, the aspect of civil society in integration needs further clarification and categorization. Therefore, in this study, we aim to develop a general typology of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that are active in immigration and immigration-related areas (NGO-R; non-governmental organizations—refugees). Our findings show that NGO-Rs play crucial roles in helping the refugees to access the rights provided by state, in integrating them into society at the local level by creating new social spaces and in sending humanitarian aid to the people of concern in Syria. Additionally, we claim that the refugee crisis facilitated the opportunities both for active citizenship as demanded and for new mobilization to manage the humanitarian and integration assistance towards the Syrians. Lastly, our fieldwork shows that religious and belief motives are the main factors playing a large part in the creation and maintenance of the NGO-R activities and refugee community organizations (RCOs) can have a distinctive integrative function by preferring to stay outside the mainstream channels.