Abstract
Naturalization takes place at the intersection between a host government's propensity to give citizenship and refugees' attitudes towards it. However, the naturalization of Syrian refugees, with its top-down approach, shows the possibility of a divergence between a government’s propensity and refugees’ attitudes, and that divergence may spoil the expected benefits. This study questions the factors that determine government propensity and refugees' attitude, besides the convergence and divergence between them. The regressions have been estimated using data collected from a sample of 296 Syrian students at Mardin University, Turkey. The findings of this study revealed a contradiction between attitude and propensity, although they share factors of education and the hosting context. While the indications of social and cultural integration have a positive effect on attitudes, they do not affect propensity. Besides the contextual factors of hosting province shape attitude and propensity. Moreover, the most important factor in deciding attitude is the perception of the costs and benefits of naturalization.
Highlights
Three Durable Solutions Exist to a Refugee’s Problem: Voluntary repatriation, local integration in their asylum country, and resettlement in a third country
As integration has many dimensions and naturalization is an important issue within it, the Turkish government began a naturalization policy for Syrian refugees
To contribute to bridging the above-mentioned gap we studied the exceptional naturalization of Syrian refugees in Turkey
Summary
Three Durable Solutions Exist to a Refugee’s Problem: Voluntary repatriation, local integration in their asylum country, and resettlement in a third country. Naturalization is an important issue in the context of integration It has been considered as an indication of integration and a way towards more integration (Kuch, 2017). Integration "becomes a durable solution only at the point when a refugee becomes a naturalized citizen of his or her asylum country" (Crisp, 2004: 2). The Turkish government initially dealt with the Syrian crisis with open-mindedness, allowing refugees inside its territory and providing them with temporary solutions (Abedtalas et al, 2021). With the longevity of the crisis and the increase in the number of refugees, the Turkish government began to search for longterm solutions for integration. As integration has many dimensions and naturalization is an important issue within it, the Turkish government began a naturalization policy for Syrian refugees
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