Abstract
Turkey has been the country hosting the highest number of refugees globally with the immigration of Syrians after the civil war in Syria. There have been no major problems between Turks and Syrians in the past ten years. Although Syrians have a financial burden of 71 billion USD to the Turkish state, Turkish society has not reacted significantly due to common religious, cultural, and humanitarian values. This study was conducted with 1743 individuals of different age groups, and it tried to understand the effect of Turkish society’s spirituality in attitudes and behaviors towards Syrian refugees. This relationship was investigated with regard to whether the multiculturalism and contact frequency acted as mediators and national belonging acted as moderator. Gender, age, education, family income, marital status, and whether participants have Syrian neighbors were used as control variables. As a result of the analysis, it was found that the spirituality of the Turkish people was associated with their attitudes towards Syrian refugees, with the mediator effect being multiculturalism and social contact and the moderator effect being national belonging in this relationship.
Highlights
Refugees are among the most vulnerable people because they lack access to many basic rights
This study showed that the effect of the sense of closeness to God on negative attitudes towards refugees is explained by multiculturalism and social contact
The study investigated the effect of the sense of closeness to God on negative attitudes towards Syrian refugees through multiculturalism and social contact frequency
Summary
Refugees are among the most vulnerable people because they lack access to many basic rights. They are excluded as a result of society’s stigmatization and marginalization, as well as their inability to access health, education, and economic possibilities (Henry et al 2020; Marshall 2015; Miller et al 2010). An open-door policy was implemented and most Syrians were housed in temporary accommodation centers (Akar and Erdogdu 2019). Basic humanitarian aid such as health and education is provided in the name of “temporary protection” for Syrian refugees (Abdulkerim et al 2021). The total cost for Turkey, which hosts the most refugees in the world, approached 71 billion USD in the first months of 2021 (Eraslan 2021)
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