Establishing the Formal Economic Identity of Syrian Refugees In Turkey: The Case of Gaziantep

Gergely Sebestyen; Bruno Dyjas; İhsan Kuyumcu

Research Article

Establishing the Formal Economic Identity of Syrian Refugees In Turkey: The Case of Gaziantep

Year 2018, Volume: 3 Issue: 2, 71 - 87, 29.10.2018

Gergely Sebestyen Bruno Dyjas İhsan Kuyumcu

Abstract

Günümüzde Türkiye, tüm
dünyadaki Suriyeli mülteci nüfusunun %60’ından fazlasına denk gelen yaklaşık
3,5 milyon mülteciye ev sahipliği yapmaktadır. Mültecilerin büyük çoğunluğu
kampların dışında, hem toplumsal hem de ekonomik düzeyde ev sahibi topluluklar
ile iletişim halinde kalarak günlük yaşamlarını devam ettirmektedir. Günlük
etkileşimin varlığına ve Türkiye’nin 2016 sonrası mültecilerin yasal
entegrasyonu geliştirmeye yönelik artan kamu sorumluluğuna rağmen; çalışan
mülteci nüfusunun yalnızca %1’inden daha azı yasal çalışma izni elde etmiştir. Sonuç
olarak, mülteci işgücü, Türkiye’deki kayıtdışı üretim uygulamaları
dinamiklerini köklü şekilde değiştirmiştir. Gaziantep örneğinin
incelenmesinden çıkan normatif yorumlar, mevcut çıkmazı tekrar üreten çıkar
çatışmalarına ve yetersizliklere ilişkin açıklayıcı anahtar unsurlar sağlamaktadır.

Keywords

Informal Economy, Labour Market, Refugee Labour Force, Syrian Refugees and Turkey

References

Albrecht, J.; Navarro, L. and Vroman, S. (2009). ‘The effects of labour market policies in an economy with an informal sector. The Economic Journal, 119(539), 1105-1129
Amaral, P. S. and Quintin, E. (2006). A competitive model of the informal sector. Journal of Monetary Economics, 53, 1541-1553
Anand, S. and Sen, A. (2000). Human development and economic sustainability. World Development, 28(12), pp. 2029-2049
Baban, F., Ilcan, S. and Rygiel, K. (2016). Syrian refugees in Turkey: Pathways to precarity, differential inclusion, and negotiated citizenship rights. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2016.1192996
Barbelet, V. and Wake, C. (2017). The lives and livelihoods of Syrian refugees in Turkey and Jordan. Available at: https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/resource-documents/11344.pdf
Barbelet, V., Hagen-Zanker, J. and Mansour-Ille, D. (2018). The Jordan compact lessons learnt and implications for future refugee compacts. Available at: https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/resource-documents/12058.pdf
Betts, A., Ali, A. and Memisoglu, F. (2017). Local politics and the Syrian refugee crisis: Exploring responses in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. University of Oxford: Refugee Studies Centre Report
Ceritoglu, E., Yunculer, H. B. G., Torun, H. and Tumen, S. (2017). The impact of Syrian refugees on natives’ labor market outcomes in Turkey: Evidence from a quasi-experimental design. IZA Journal of Labor Policy, 6(1), 1-28
Dasgupta, M. (2016). Moving from informal to formal sector and what it means for policymakers. Jobs and Development Blog, World Bank Jobs Group, available at http://blogs.worldbank.org/jobs/moving-informal-formal-sector-and-what-it-means-policymakers
Davis, R., Benton, G., Todman, W. and Murphy, E. (2017). Hosting guests, creating citizens: Models of refugee administration in Jordan and Egypt. Refugee Survey Quarterly, 36(2), 1-32.
De Mel, S., Mckenzie, D. and Woodruff, C. (2013). The Demand for, and consequences of, formalization among informal firms in Sri Lanka. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 5(2), 122-150
De Soto, H. (2001). The Mystery of capital. Finance and Development, 38(1), 29-33.
Del Carpio, X. V. and Wagner, M. (2015). The Impact of Syrians refugees on the Turkish labour market. Policy Research Working Paper 7402, World Bank Group: Social Protection and Labor Global Practice Group, August
Del Carpio, X. V., Seker, S. D. and Yener, A. L. (2018). Integrating refugees into Turkish labour market, Forced Migration Review, 58, 10-14.
Djankov, S., La Porta, R., Lopez-de-Silanes, F. and Shleifer, A. (2002). The Regulation of entry. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 117(1), 1-37
Enke, S. (1962). Economic development with unlimited and limited supplies of labour. Oxford Economic Papers, 14(2), 158-172
European Commission (2017). Seventh Report on the Progress made in the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement, Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/sites/near/files/20170906_seventh_report_on_the_progress_in_the_implementation_of_the_eu-turkey_statement_en.pdf
European Commission (2018). Second Annual Report on the Facility for Refugees in Turkey, Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhoodenlargement/sites/near/files/14032018_facility_for_refugees_in_turkey_second_annual_report.pdf
European Parliament (2017a). Legislative Train Schedule: Towards a New Policy on Migration, Available at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/legislative-train/theme-towards-a-new-policy-on-migration/file-eu-turkey-statement-action-plan
European Parliament (2017b). Syrian crisis: Impact on Turkey from mediation to crisis management, available at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2017/599389/EPRS_BRI%282017%29599389_EN.pdf.
Farrell, D. (2004). The hidden dangers of the informal economy. The McKinsey Quarterly, 3, 26-37
George, A. L. and Bennett, A. (2005) Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences (MIT Press)
Gill, P., Stewart, K., Treasure, E. and Chadwick, B. (2008). Methods of data collection in qualitative research: Interviews and focus groups. British Dental Journal, 204, 291-295
Harris, J. R. and Todaro, M. P. (1970). Migration, unemployment and development: A two-sector analysis. The American Economic Review, 60(1), 126-142
İçduygu, A. and Diker, E. (2017). Labor market integration of Syrian refugees in Turkey: From refugees to settlers. The Journal of Migration Studies, 3(1), 12-35.
International Crisis Group. (2016). Available at: https://www.crisisgroup.org/europe-central-asia/western-europemediterranean/turkey/turkey-s-refugee-crisis-politics-permanence
International Crisis Group. (2018). Available at: https://www.crisisgroup.org/europe-central-asia/western-europemediterranean/turkey/248-turkeys-syrian-refugees-defusing-metropolitan-tensions
Jaramillo, M. (2013). Is there demand for formality among informal firms? Evidence from microfirms in downtown Lima. Avances de Investigación 13, GRADE: Group for the Analysis of Development
Johnson, S., Kaufmann, D., Schleifer, A., Goldman, M. I. and Weitzman, M. L. (1997). the unofficial economy in transition. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1997(2), 159-239
Karaarslan, E. (2010). Kayıtdışı istihdam ve neden olduğu mali kayıpların bütçe üzerindeki etkileri: Türkiye örneği, Karaararslan, E., Financial Services Association, 7
Kattaa, M. (2016). ‘Syrian refugees’ status in the Jordanian labour market. Turkish Policy Quarterly, 15(3), 71-78
Koneig, N., and Walter-Franke, M. (2017). One year on: What lessons from the EU-Turkey ‘deal’?, Available at: https://www.delorsinstitut.de/en/publications/posttype/blog-post-en/one-year-on-what-lessons-from-the-eu-turkey-deal/
Korkmaz, E. E. (2017). How do Syrian refugee workers challenge supply chain management in the Turkish garment industry?. Working Paper 133, International Migration Institute, University of Oxford
La Porta, R. and Shleifer, A. (2014). Informality and development. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 28(3), 109-126
Lenner, K. and Turner, L. (2018). Making refugees work? The Politics of integrating syrian refugees into the labor market in Jordan. Middle East Critique, 1-31
Mankiw, N. G., Romer, D. and Weil, D. N. (1992). A contribution to the empirics of economic growth. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107(2), 407-437
Ministry of Labor, Social Services and Family (2016). Available at: https://www.csgb.gov.tr/media/7516/2016-çalışma-hayatı-istatistikleri 19.08.2018
Orb, A., Eisenhauer, L. and Wynaden, D. (2000). Ethics in Qualitative Research, Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 33(1), 93-96
ORSAM (2015). Effects of the Syrian Refugees on Turkey, Report No: 195, Available at: http://tesev.org.tr/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Effects_Of_The_Syrian_Refugees_On_Turkey.pdf
Reno, T. (2017). The EU facility for refugees in Turkey – Prevailing misperception vs. actual state of play. Available at: http://www.iris-france.org/99074-the-eu-facility-for-refugees-in-turkey-prevailing-misperception-vs-actual-state-of-play/
Rohwerder, B. (2018). Syrian refugee women, girls, and people with disabilities in Turkey. K4D Helpdesk Report. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies.
Ruiz, I. and Vargas-Silva, C. (2013). The Economics of Forced Migration. Journal of Development Studies, 49(6), 772-784
Sak, G., Kaymaz, T., Kadkoy, O. and Kenanoglu, M. (2018). Forced migrants: Labour market integration and entrepreneurship. Economics: The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal, 12, 1-13
Schneider, F. and Buehn, A. (2012). Shadow Economies in Highly Developed OECD Countries: What are the Driving Forces?. IZA Discussion Paper: 6891, Available at: http://ftp.iza.org/dp6891.pdf
Social Security Instution (2016); Available at: http://www.sgk.gov.tr/wps/portal/sgk/tr/calisan/kayitdisi_istihdam/kayitdisi_istihdam_oranlari/kayitdisi_istihdam_orani 18.09.2018
Tansey, O. (2007). Process tracing and elite interviewing: A case for non-probability sampling. PS: Political Science and Politics, 40(4), 765-772
Tumen, S. (2016). ‘The economic impact of Syrian Refugees on host countries: Quasi-Experimental evidence from Turkey. American Economic Review, 106(5), 456-460
Turner, D. W. (2010). ‘Qualitative interview design: A practical guide for novice investigators. The Qualitative Report, 15(3), 753-760
UNHCR (2017). Global trends: Forced displacement 2017, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/globaltrends2017/
Vennesson, P. (2008). Case studies and process tracing: theories and practices’ in Della Porta, D. and Keating, M. (2008) Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences: A Pluralist Perspective (Cambridge University Press) pp. 223-239
Williams, C. C. (2005). Formalising the informal economy: The case for local initiatives. Local Government Studies, 31(3), 335-349
World Bank (2017). The Visible Impacts of the Syrian War May Only be the Tip of the Iceberg, Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2017/07/18/the-visible-impacts-of-the-syrian-war-may-only-be-the-tip-of-the-iceberg
World Food Programme (2017). EU-Funded Cash Assistance Programme Reaches 1 Million Refugees In Turkey, Available at: https://www.wfp.org/news/news-release/eu-funded-cash-assistance-programme-reaches-1-million-refugees-turkey

Establishing the Formal Economic Identity of Syrian Refugees In Turkey: The Case of Gaziantep

Year 2018, Volume: 3 Issue: 2, 71 - 87, 29.10.2018

Gergely Sebestyen Bruno Dyjas İhsan Kuyumcu

Abstract

To date, Turkey accommodates approximately 3,5 million refugees - more than 60% of the total Syrian refugee
population. The vast majority conduct their daily lives outside of refugee camps, fully engaging with host communities on
both a social and economic level. Despite this routine interaction and Turkey’s increased public commitment to improve the
legal integration of refugees from 2016 onwards, only less than 1% of the working age refugee population possess formal work
permits. As a result, refugee labour radically shifts the dynamics of informal production practices in Turkey. Normative
comments from Gaziantep provide key insight into the inefficiencies and conflicts of interest that reproduce the current
deadlock.

Keywords

Informal Economy, Labour Market, Refugee Labour Force, Syrian Refugees and Turkey

References

Albrecht, J.; Navarro, L. and Vroman, S. (2009). ‘The effects of labour market policies in an economy with an informal sector. The Economic Journal, 119(539), 1105-1129
Amaral, P. S. and Quintin, E. (2006). A competitive model of the informal sector. Journal of Monetary Economics, 53, 1541-1553
Anand, S. and Sen, A. (2000). Human development and economic sustainability. World Development, 28(12), pp. 2029-2049
Baban, F., Ilcan, S. and Rygiel, K. (2016). Syrian refugees in Turkey: Pathways to precarity, differential inclusion, and negotiated citizenship rights. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2016.1192996
Barbelet, V. and Wake, C. (2017). The lives and livelihoods of Syrian refugees in Turkey and Jordan. Available at: https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/resource-documents/11344.pdf
Barbelet, V., Hagen-Zanker, J. and Mansour-Ille, D. (2018). The Jordan compact lessons learnt and implications for future refugee compacts. Available at: https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/resource-documents/12058.pdf
Betts, A., Ali, A. and Memisoglu, F. (2017). Local politics and the Syrian refugee crisis: Exploring responses in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. University of Oxford: Refugee Studies Centre Report
Ceritoglu, E., Yunculer, H. B. G., Torun, H. and Tumen, S. (2017). The impact of Syrian refugees on natives’ labor market outcomes in Turkey: Evidence from a quasi-experimental design. IZA Journal of Labor Policy, 6(1), 1-28
Dasgupta, M. (2016). Moving from informal to formal sector and what it means for policymakers. Jobs and Development Blog, World Bank Jobs Group, available at http://blogs.worldbank.org/jobs/moving-informal-formal-sector-and-what-it-means-policymakers
Davis, R., Benton, G., Todman, W. and Murphy, E. (2017). Hosting guests, creating citizens: Models of refugee administration in Jordan and Egypt. Refugee Survey Quarterly, 36(2), 1-32.
De Mel, S., Mckenzie, D. and Woodruff, C. (2013). The Demand for, and consequences of, formalization among informal firms in Sri Lanka. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 5(2), 122-150
De Soto, H. (2001). The Mystery of capital. Finance and Development, 38(1), 29-33.
Del Carpio, X. V. and Wagner, M. (2015). The Impact of Syrians refugees on the Turkish labour market. Policy Research Working Paper 7402, World Bank Group: Social Protection and Labor Global Practice Group, August
Del Carpio, X. V., Seker, S. D. and Yener, A. L. (2018). Integrating refugees into Turkish labour market, Forced Migration Review, 58, 10-14.
Djankov, S., La Porta, R., Lopez-de-Silanes, F. and Shleifer, A. (2002). The Regulation of entry. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 117(1), 1-37
Enke, S. (1962). Economic development with unlimited and limited supplies of labour. Oxford Economic Papers, 14(2), 158-172
European Commission (2017). Seventh Report on the Progress made in the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement, Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/sites/near/files/20170906_seventh_report_on_the_progress_in_the_implementation_of_the_eu-turkey_statement_en.pdf
European Commission (2018). Second Annual Report on the Facility for Refugees in Turkey, Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhoodenlargement/sites/near/files/14032018_facility_for_refugees_in_turkey_second_annual_report.pdf
European Parliament (2017a). Legislative Train Schedule: Towards a New Policy on Migration, Available at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/legislative-train/theme-towards-a-new-policy-on-migration/file-eu-turkey-statement-action-plan
European Parliament (2017b). Syrian crisis: Impact on Turkey from mediation to crisis management, available at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2017/599389/EPRS_BRI%282017%29599389_EN.pdf.
Farrell, D. (2004). The hidden dangers of the informal economy. The McKinsey Quarterly, 3, 26-37
George, A. L. and Bennett, A. (2005) Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences (MIT Press)
Gill, P., Stewart, K., Treasure, E. and Chadwick, B. (2008). Methods of data collection in qualitative research: Interviews and focus groups. British Dental Journal, 204, 291-295
Harris, J. R. and Todaro, M. P. (1970). Migration, unemployment and development: A two-sector analysis. The American Economic Review, 60(1), 126-142
İçduygu, A. and Diker, E. (2017). Labor market integration of Syrian refugees in Turkey: From refugees to settlers. The Journal of Migration Studies, 3(1), 12-35.
International Crisis Group. (2016). Available at: https://www.crisisgroup.org/europe-central-asia/western-europemediterranean/turkey/turkey-s-refugee-crisis-politics-permanence
International Crisis Group. (2018). Available at: https://www.crisisgroup.org/europe-central-asia/western-europemediterranean/turkey/248-turkeys-syrian-refugees-defusing-metropolitan-tensions
Jaramillo, M. (2013). Is there demand for formality among informal firms? Evidence from microfirms in downtown Lima. Avances de Investigación 13, GRADE: Group for the Analysis of Development
Johnson, S., Kaufmann, D., Schleifer, A., Goldman, M. I. and Weitzman, M. L. (1997). the unofficial economy in transition. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1997(2), 159-239
Karaarslan, E. (2010). Kayıtdışı istihdam ve neden olduğu mali kayıpların bütçe üzerindeki etkileri: Türkiye örneği, Karaararslan, E., Financial Services Association, 7
Kattaa, M. (2016). ‘Syrian refugees’ status in the Jordanian labour market. Turkish Policy Quarterly, 15(3), 71-78
Koneig, N., and Walter-Franke, M. (2017). One year on: What lessons from the EU-Turkey ‘deal’?, Available at: https://www.delorsinstitut.de/en/publications/posttype/blog-post-en/one-year-on-what-lessons-from-the-eu-turkey-deal/
Korkmaz, E. E. (2017). How do Syrian refugee workers challenge supply chain management in the Turkish garment industry?. Working Paper 133, International Migration Institute, University of Oxford
La Porta, R. and Shleifer, A. (2014). Informality and development. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 28(3), 109-126
Lenner, K. and Turner, L. (2018). Making refugees work? The Politics of integrating syrian refugees into the labor market in Jordan. Middle East Critique, 1-31
Mankiw, N. G., Romer, D. and Weil, D. N. (1992). A contribution to the empirics of economic growth. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107(2), 407-437
Ministry of Labor, Social Services and Family (2016). Available at: https://www.csgb.gov.tr/media/7516/2016-çalışma-hayatı-istatistikleri 19.08.2018
Orb, A., Eisenhauer, L. and Wynaden, D. (2000). Ethics in Qualitative Research, Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 33(1), 93-96
ORSAM (2015). Effects of the Syrian Refugees on Turkey, Report No: 195, Available at: http://tesev.org.tr/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Effects_Of_The_Syrian_Refugees_On_Turkey.pdf
Reno, T. (2017). The EU facility for refugees in Turkey – Prevailing misperception vs. actual state of play. Available at: http://www.iris-france.org/99074-the-eu-facility-for-refugees-in-turkey-prevailing-misperception-vs-actual-state-of-play/
Rohwerder, B. (2018). Syrian refugee women, girls, and people with disabilities in Turkey. K4D Helpdesk Report. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies.
Ruiz, I. and Vargas-Silva, C. (2013). The Economics of Forced Migration. Journal of Development Studies, 49(6), 772-784
Sak, G., Kaymaz, T., Kadkoy, O. and Kenanoglu, M. (2018). Forced migrants: Labour market integration and entrepreneurship. Economics: The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal, 12, 1-13
Schneider, F. and Buehn, A. (2012). Shadow Economies in Highly Developed OECD Countries: What are the Driving Forces?. IZA Discussion Paper: 6891, Available at: http://ftp.iza.org/dp6891.pdf
Social Security Instution (2016); Available at: http://www.sgk.gov.tr/wps/portal/sgk/tr/calisan/kayitdisi_istihdam/kayitdisi_istihdam_oranlari/kayitdisi_istihdam_orani 18.09.2018
Tansey, O. (2007). Process tracing and elite interviewing: A case for non-probability sampling. PS: Political Science and Politics, 40(4), 765-772
Tumen, S. (2016). ‘The economic impact of Syrian Refugees on host countries: Quasi-Experimental evidence from Turkey. American Economic Review, 106(5), 456-460
Turner, D. W. (2010). ‘Qualitative interview design: A practical guide for novice investigators. The Qualitative Report, 15(3), 753-760
UNHCR (2017). Global trends: Forced displacement 2017, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/globaltrends2017/
Vennesson, P. (2008). Case studies and process tracing: theories and practices’ in Della Porta, D. and Keating, M. (2008) Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences: A Pluralist Perspective (Cambridge University Press) pp. 223-239
Williams, C. C. (2005). Formalising the informal economy: The case for local initiatives. Local Government Studies, 31(3), 335-349
World Bank (2017). The Visible Impacts of the Syrian War May Only be the Tip of the Iceberg, Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2017/07/18/the-visible-impacts-of-the-syrian-war-may-only-be-the-tip-of-the-iceberg
World Food Programme (2017). EU-Funded Cash Assistance Programme Reaches 1 Million Refugees In Turkey, Available at: https://www.wfp.org/news/news-release/eu-funded-cash-assistance-programme-reaches-1-million-refugees-turkey

There are 53 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language	English
Journal Section	Makaleler
Authors	Gergely Sebestyen Bruno Dyjas İhsan Kuyumcu
Publication Date	October 29, 2018
Submission Date	October 23, 2018
Published in Issue	Year 2018Volume: 3 Issue: 2

Cite

APA	Sebestyen, G., Dyjas, B., & Kuyumcu, İ. (2018). Establishing the Formal Economic Identity of Syrian Refugees In Turkey: The Case of Gaziantep. Türk Sosyal Bilimler Araştırmaları Dergisi, 3(2), 71-87.

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