Abstract
Whilst the state of precarity negatively impacts Syrian refugees in Turkey, an increasing number of scholars suggest that Syrians are integrating well in that country due to cultural similarities and relatively ‘liberal’ refugee policies. This paper asks why this discrepancy occurs between studies that depict a positive picture of integration and the reality on the ground that approximately 40% of Syrians in Turkey want to go to a country other than Syria and Turkey. The article explains this contradiction by introducing a new-grounded theory of ‘reluctant local integration’. Based on a sequential research design that is composed of a thematic analysis of original fieldwork with 106 participants in the city of Gaziantep and a follow-up theory-guided process tracing in wider Turkey between 2015 and 2021, the article identifies original links between three intertwined themes that lead to reluctant local integration. These are not only a by-product of temporary protection, and unevenly distributed precarity in the economic milieu, but also a result of similar types of ideological, ethnic and religious sectarianism that is deeply rooted in both refugee and host communities in Turkey.
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