Refugees in the shadow of earthquakes in Turkey: increasing integration vulnerabilities and their causes after 2023
Keywords:
earthquake, refugee, social integration, vulnerability, disasters
Abstract
Being a refugee leaves individuals vulnerable to multidimensional challenges such as legal uncertainty, economic hardship, language barriers, and social exclusion. Major disasters such as earthquakes exacerbate these vulnerabilities. The February 6 earthquakes affecting the provinces of Adana, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Elâzığ, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Şanlıurfa in Turkey’s Southeast Anatolia Region have worsened the living conditions of refugees and created deficiencies in basic areas. Economic hardship, infrastructure problems, and the rhetoric of politicians in general have increased tensions between refugees and the local population, creating new obstacles to the social integration process. This situation has negatively affected refugees’ material conditions, social relationships, and sense of belonging, making their integration processes more fragile. In this sense, the aim of this study is to analyze how the multidimensional vulnerabilities faced by refugees in the social integration process in Turkey have deepened after the earthquake. the method of this research is descriptive, in which the researchers examined the subject using field studies and referring to existing documents. rsults show that, this study shows that the earthquake has increased the existing vulnerabilities of refugees and that housing insecurity, problems accessing services, economic losses, and discriminatory discourse in particular have weakened the social integration process.
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References
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Al Jazeera, (2023). https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/6/quake-hit-antakya-communities-seek-role-in-saving-rich-heritage 20.05.2025
Al Mandhar, A. (2023). Earthquakes as triggers for public health disasters: WHO and health systems’ response, East Mediterr Health J. 29(3). 165–167.
Alexander, D. (2023) Reflections on the Turkish-Syrian Earthquakes of 6th February 2023: Building Collapse and its Consequences, https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/irdr/2023/02/09/reflections-on-the-turkish-syrian-earthquakes/ E.T. 07.05.2025
Angın, C. (2024). Afet Yönetiminde Yapay Zekâ: Yaklaşımlar, Yöntemler ve Uygulamalar. Türk Deprem Araştırma Dergisi, 6(2), 610-627. https://doi.org/10.46464/tdad.1532261
Bhat, S. (2023). Türkiye Syria earthquake’s impact on Afghan, Iranian, Iraqi and Somali refugees in Türkiye. Mixed Migration Centre https://mixedmigration.org/resource/turkiye-syria-earthquake-impact/
Çınar, E. N., Abbara, A. and Yılmaz, E. (2023). Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria—collaboration is needed to mitigate longer terms risks to health, BMJ, 380:p559, doi: 10.1136/bmj.p559
Çuhadar, P. (2019). Kırılgan Devlet ve Zorunlu Göç İlişkisini Suriye Üzerinden Okumak. Göç Araştırmaları Dergisi, 5(1), 28-49.
D’Angelo, M. (2024). Helping my Friends: Rethinking Disaster Diplomacy in the Wake of 1999 and 2023 Seismic Events in Turkey, Syria and Greece. In Helping My Friends: Disaster Diplomacy and Refugees Post-2023 Earthquake. POLIARCHIE.
Danış, D., Biehl, K. & Kablan, E. (2023). Göç ve Deprem, İstanbul’a Gelen Depremzede Mültecilere Yönelik Kabul ve Dışlama Mekanizmaları, Durum Tespit Raporu III, Göç Araştırmaları Derneği.
Duruel, M. (2023). Afetlerde Göçmen Olmak: 6 Şubat Depremi Hatay Örneği, Mukaddime, 14(2), 227-255.
Ekici, S. (2024). Deprem sonrası Suriyeli göçmenlerin yaşadıkları sorunlar. Akademik Yaklaşımlar Dergisi, 15(1), Deprem Özel Sayısı, 334-365.
Erdoğan, M. M. (2022). Suriyeliler Barometresi 2021: Suriyelilerle Uyum İçinde Yaşam. Ankara: Orion Kitabevi.
Erdoğan, M. M., Ferris, E., Donato, K., Kirişçi, K., Erkmen, S., Eminoğlu, N., Yaylacı, Ş. and Mohammad, T. H. (2023). Social Cohesion Of Syrian Refugees In Türkiye and Conditions For Idps In Syria After The Earthquake February 6, 2023, Igam Akademy.
Ergün, G. & Akman, Ç. (2025). Local Digital Transformation Studies in the Case of Konya Metropolitan Municipality. In Digital Competency Development for Public Officials: Adapting New Technologies in Public Services (pp. 453-474). IGI Global Scientific Publishing.
GAV. (2024). Göç Araştırma Vakfı, Türkiye’de Göç Trendleri: 2023 Yılı Uluslararası İş Gücü ve Çalışma İzinleri İstatistikleri, https://gocvakfi.org/turkiyede-goc-trendleri-2023-yili-uluslararasi-is-gucu-ve-calisma-izinleri-istatistikleri/
Haliloğlu Kahraman, Z.E. (2023). Kahramanmaraş ve Hatay Depremlerinin Düşündürdükleri: Suriyeli Mültecilerin Yer Seçim Kararlarının Deprem Tehlikeleri ve Riskleri Açısından Değerlendirilmesi. Planlama Dergisi, 33(3), 506-514.
Hallegatte, S., Rentschler, J., and Walsh, B. (2018). Building back better: achieving resilience through stronger, faster, and more inclusive post-disaster reconstruction. World Bank, Washington, D.C., USA, https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/df6fdd97-74d2-504f-b3a3-02daad568235/content
https://multeci.org.tr/2023/02/13/afette-depremzede-multecilere-yonelik-tutumlar-endise-verici/ E.T:12.05.2025
https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/politika/cumhurbaskani-erdogan-toplumda-yabanci-dusmanligi-ni-ve-siginmaci-nefretini-korukleyerek-hicbir-yere-varilamaz/3262796 12.05.2025
https://www.msf.org/sudan
IOM (2024). https://turkiye.iom.int/tr/uyum E.T:25.05.2025
Kayali, N. (2020). Syrian refugees navigate Turkey’s shifting healthcare terrain. MERIP. Orta Doğu Araştırma ve Bilgi Projesi, https://merip.org/2020/11/syrian-refugees-navigate-turkeys-shifting-health-care-terrain/
Mavrouli, M., Mavroulis, S., Lekkas, E. and Tsakris, A. (2023). An Emerging Health Crisis in Turkey and Syria after the Earthquake Disaster on 6 February 2023: Risk Factors, Prevention and Management of Infectious Diseases. Healthcare (Basel). 3;11(7):1022. doi: 10.3390/healthcare11071022.
McAuliffe, M. and L.A. Oucho (eds.), 2024. World Migration Report 2024. International Organization for Migration (IOM), Geneva.
Nasır, A., Alymany, G., Brimo, F., Tekin, S. and Drury, J. (2025). Understanding the socio-economic and wellbeing impacts of the 2023 earthquakes in Turkey on Syrian refugees, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, University of Sussex. Journal contribution. https://hdl.handle.net/10779/uos.29070422.vl
Ruhnke, S., Hertner, L., Gundacker, L. and Wagner, S. (2024). Going from bad to worse? Wellbeing of Syrian refugees in Turkey in the aftermath of the February 2023 earthquakes. Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany. https://doi.org/10.18452/28152
Sağıroğlu, A. Z., Ünsal, R. ve Özenci, F. (2023). 6 Şubat 2023 Deprem Sonrası Göç ve İnsan Hareketlilikleri: Durum Değerlendirme Raporu, Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt Üniversitesi Göç Politikaları Uygulama ve Araştırma Merkezi.
SBB. (2023). 2023 Kahramanmaraş ve Hatay Depremleri Raporu, T.C. Strateji ve Bütçe Başkanlığı. SBB Deprem Sonrası Değerlendirme Raporu.
SBB. (2024). Kahramanmaraş ve Hatay Depremleri Yeniden İmar ve Gelişme Raporu, T.C. Strateji ve Bütçe Başkanlığı.
Semerci, P.U., Danış, D., Birol, B. ve Turan, D. (2023). Deprem Bölgesinde Göçmen / Sığınmacı / Mülteci Olmak, Reflektif Journal of Social Sciences, 4(2): 469-483
Sert, D., Danış, D. ve Sevinin, E. (2023). Durum Tespit Raporu, Göç ve Deprem, Göç Araştırmaları Derneği.
Sevinin, E., Danış, D. and Sert, D. (2023). Double Displacement of Refugees in the Context of the 2023
Turkey‐Syria Earthquake. International Migration, 61(4), 341-344. https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.13171
UNDP, (2023). UNDP, deprem bölgesinde toparlanmaya yönelik bir adım olarak Türkiye’de tekstil sektöründe istihdamı destekliyor https://www.undp.org/tr/turkiye/press-releases/undp-deprem-bolgesinde-toparlanmaya-yonelik-bir-adim-olarak-turkiyede-tekstil-sektorunde-istihdami-destekliyor E.T:05.05.2025
UNHCR, (2023). https://www.unhcr.org/tr/node/18 E.T:22.04.2025
UNICEF, (2023). https://www.unicef.org/turkiye/unicefin-deprem-mudehalesi E.T. 22.04.2025
Published
2026-03-29
How to Cite
Ergün, G., Akman, Çiğdem, & Akpinar, M. (2026). Refugees in the shadow of earthquakes in Turkey: increasing integration vulnerabilities and their causes after 2023. Interacción Y Perspectiva, 16(2), 620-636. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19245766
Section
Artículos de Investigación
