The Socioeconomic Repercussions of Terrorism in Refugee Populations: Turkey and Jordan as Case Study

[Cossack25A1]

How is the resettlement issue going in Mindanao ? What do you think are the barriers to full integration of these IDPs ?

Seeing the local news and international news, particularly from Al Jazeera, the situation slightly improved but it many people are still living in evacuation centers.

Links for the news:

A year after siege, Zamboanga City evacuees still struggling | Inquirer News
http://blogs.aljazeera.com/blog/asia/philippines-zamboanga-siege-one-year

The main barriers is that the area is that there may still be rogue MNLF insurgents in the area and the devastation of the city means reconstruction of the said city will take sometime to build the city before the siege which coincides with the other barrier: excessive bureaucracy and slow government response.

Has this resulted in any kind of radicalization, or increased crime, or a shift in voting patterns?

At present, nothing has happened save for the worsening conditions of the evacuees and tight security in Zamboanga city but since the region have always been the hotbed of radical Islamic movements, isolated attacks from other Islamic groups occur but not in the city.

 

[Aepsilons]

A well-thought out and well-researched piece. The following questions are not specifically directed at you, rather they are open to anyone who cares to address them:

It would be interesting to compare and contrast this refugee crisis with its antecedent, the Palestinian Arab refugee crisis, and track the development of this one compared to the previous one. Of course, Palestinian Arab refugees were also denied recognition and integration, and later turned to terrorizing their hosts in Jordan and Lebanon--to this day, they remain un-integrated, living in refugee camps in most of their Arab host countries.

Do initial evaluations show this new wave of refugees being treated the same way, or better? You already alluded to the tensions that this might cause in the future; it will be interesting to monitor and see if it creates political tensions followed by terrorism, as it did with the Palestinian Arabs.

Indeed, with the rise of ISIS, this problem is set to grow, and will not be solved soon. What other solutions are viable? Can outside actors seize sections of Syria and/or Iraq to set up safe zones within those countries, and thus prevent spillover into the neighboring countries?

Finally, one wonders what happens to national identity in the case of refugees from a state that effectively no longer exists. Are there precedents for this?

Great opportunity for discussion. Thanks for this piece, @Nihonjin1051 .

Excellent recommendation about a comparative analysis of the refugees that are product of the Syrian Conflict, Iraqi Sectarian War with the Palestinian Arab Refugee Crisis. This is something worthy to research, will do this and commit a reply this week.

 

[mike2000]

The current unrest found near the border areas , with many of the refugees coming into Turkey having some combat experience and the religious differences between refugees and local Turkish residents are taking a toll in communities such as Antakya. This can be understood considering the cross border scrimmage that has taken place between Turkey and Syrian Government Forces. Turkey has almost 3 million refugees from Syria and Iraq seeking refuge and shelter , many of whom come from a plethora of backgrounds : Syrian Christian Coptics, Syrian Shia, Syrian Sunni, Iraqi Yezidi, Iraqi Christians. Given the resources needed to address these numbers, there is a drain and competition on health, security, services. My research finds that Turkey and Jordan, both of whom are hosts for refugee camps require , and urgently at that, international support -- economic as well as medical aid -- to meet the needs of the displaced people. We have to take into consideration the medical, psychological health of refugees from varied age groups. You and I know that as the war rages on in Iraq and Syria -- considering the ISIS threat, the number of refugees will only rise. Resources need to be acquired, God Forbid, the demand becomes too dire. I have no doubt of Turkey's ability to withstand more refugees coming into its border, but I am doubtful for Jordan, and Jordan's survival is essential.

I welcome the opinion and input of our Turkish members.

Well said Nihonji. You seem to be quite well versed into many issues/fields.

Tbh, I think Turkey made a big mistake supporting the 'rebels'/extremists in Syria. No matter what you shouldn't arm/support armed groups in another country, and most of all a neighbour for that matter. Obviously, it will one day coma back to hunt you. There have been several examples of that before. So its not like the leaders there didn't know. They should have known better.

I just hope I'm wrong and Turkey doesn't get affected by these in the long run. Since Turkey is a country I admire due to their hard work, strive for self reliance/industrialization, and efforts to improve their living standards. I have been to Turkey myself and enjoyed my stay there, its quite a modern country (way more than what I expected). I don't want all these advances they have made to be affected because of some foolish decision their leaders made. It will be another tragedy for the middle east if that was to happen.

 

[Aepsilons]

Well said Nihonji. You seem to be quite well versed into many issues/fields.

Tbh, I think Turkey made a big mistake supporting the 'rebels'/extremists in Syria. No matter what you shouldn't arm/support armed groups in another country, and most of all a neighbour for that matter. Obviously, it will one day coma back to hunt you. There have been several examples of that before. So its not like the leaders there didn't know. They should have known better.

I just hope I'm wrong and Turkey doesn't get affected by these in the long run. Since Turkey is a country I admire due to their hard work, strive for self reliance/industrialization, and efforts to improve their living standards. I have been to Turkey myself and enjoyed my stay there, its quite a modern country (way more than what I expected). I don't want all these advances they have made to be affected because of some foolish decision their leaders made. It will be another tragedy for the middle east if that was to happen.

The civil war in Syria is getting more complicated with each passing day. In Syria, there is not only the conflict between the regime and opposition, but also wars within wars. Fractions appear within the opposition on ideological and ethnic basis – which now has morphed into the creation of groups such as FSA, ISIS, ISIL. Islamists, but especially Al Qaeda-affiliated ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham) , are the groups which have been growing stronger in this conflict.

This situation changes the power balance between the regime and opposition in favor of the regime. While on the one hand the aforesaid process damages Turkey’s Syria policy, on the other hand, it turns the Syrian border into a growing security threat. With Syrian Kurds battling Syrian Sunnis in the Syrian Civil War and the rise of Kurdish Syrians coming into turkey, who come and indirectly (tho others can argue directly) increase the Pro-Kurdish independence movement within Turkey.

This is a political issue for Turkey because there are Kurdish legislators within the country who have tried to declare autonomy in the region. In 2011 there were instances of Turkish Military Forces who struck pro-separatists forces in Diyarbakir. This is why the security of NATO is at stake because Turkey is the gate of Europe’s under belly, any political destabilization within Turkey due to the Syrian refugee crisis will affect not just the Middle East, but Eurozone as a whole.

Erdogan and his administration have considered building a refugee base within the Syrian border as a way to stem the tide of cross border spill over into Turkey, but if this happens, this would mean a war between Turkey and Syria, something that is antithetical to policy makers’ agenda. The best choice of action is to: 1) Increase NATO support and military presence in Turkey to help bolster the Turkish Military’s capabilities, 2) Increase UN peacekeeping forces presence in Eastern Turkey, 3) Increase financial and medical aid in Turkey to help share the burden in catering for 3 million refugees.




Reference:

Investor's Business, D. (2011, July 18). Turkey attacks Kurdish rebels. Investors Business

Daily. p. A02.​

Levitan, R., Kaytaz, E., & Durukan, O. (2009). Unwelcome Guests: The Detention Of Refugees

In Turkey's "Foreigners' Guesthouses". Refuge, 26(1), 77-90.​

Orhan, O. (2013). Suriye'de El Kaide Gerçeği ve Türkiye. (Turkish). Middle Eastern Analysis /

Ortadogu Analiz, 5(59), 31-38.​

 

[Joe Shearer]

I really appreciated this post. Thank you very much.

 

[FaujHistorian]

Good analysis.

Civil wars are like forrest fires.

They need dried up wood, sick and dead trees (a lot of them), and a spark.

This is how civil wars AND forrest fires start.

Then it depends how the world reacts to such events.

Does the world let few actors to add more fuel? by dumping bombs, and AK-47s.

or people come together and extinguish the fires by dumping water and other fire retardants.

So far in Syria, all the players have added more fuel.

And thus increased the pain and suffering for the Syrians in particular and the rest of the world in general.

Sadly.

 

[MOHSENAM]

120,000 deads just because of 6 Devil Regimes. Saudi arabia, Qatar, Britain, Jordan, USA, Turkey.

SHOAH | Archive | Saudi Arabia

Search on Google: Wahabism,USA, Britain and Saudi arabia.

 

[Aepsilons]

120,000 deads just because of 6 Devil Regimes. Saudi arabia, Qatar, Britain, Jordan, USA, Turkey.

SHOAH | Archive | Saudi Arabia

Search on Google: Wahabism,USA, Britain and Saudi arabia.

I'm afraid the scenario in the ground is fare more complex than that. Given the history of sectarianism in Iraq and Syria, one can even argue that the powder keg was bound to erupt...

 

[Aepsilons]

A well-thought out and well-researched piece. The following questions are not specifically directed at you, rather they are open to anyone who cares to address them:

It would be interesting to compare and contrast this refugee crisis with its antecedent, the Palestinian Arab refugee crisis, and track the development of this one compared to the previous one. Of course, Palestinian Arab refugees were also denied recognition and integration, and later turned to terrorizing their hosts in Jordan and Lebanon--to this day, they remain un-integrated, living in refugee camps in most of their Arab host countries.

Do initial evaluations show this new wave of refugees being treated the same way, or better? You already alluded to the tensions that this might cause in the future; it will be interesting to monitor and see if it creates political tensions followed by terrorism, as it did with the Palestinian Arabs.

Indeed, with the rise of ISIS, this problem is set to grow, and will not be solved soon. What other solutions are viable? Can outside actors seize sections of Syria and/or Iraq to set up safe zones within those countries, and thus prevent spillover into the neighboring countries?

Finally, one wonders what happens to national identity in the case of refugees from a state that effectively no longer exists. Are there precedents for this?

Great opportunity for discussion. Thanks for this piece, @Nihonjin1051 .

@LeveragedBuyout


There are lessons that we can learn from the Palestinian refugees in the Middle East and the social problems that they continue to experience as refugees in foreign lands. This can be used as a measurement in understanding the social barriers that prevent ethnic, religious minorities from integrating into certain Arab societies. Zaman (2011) wrote article that sought to address the paucity of the research on Palestinian Iraqi communities. The analysis of refugee narratives gathered at the Palestinian Iraqi Association community center in Damascus reveals the dynamics of the refugee process in context of local integration with the host community.

It also considers the extent to which previous experiences and memory of being a refugee acts as a social and cultural resource, helping to create a distinctive geography of exile and means of bolstering welfare strategy. What I particularly find rather interesting that in the refugee narratives conducted and interpreted by Zaman (2011) is that the experience of dispossession for Palestinians in Iraq affirmed for many that attempts at integration are inconsequential unless accompanied by the right to citizenship.

The speed and ease with which Palestinians were scapegoated and coerced to abandon their homes in Baghdad has left many Palestinian Iraqis pursuing a re-settlement solution outside the Middle East. It should be noted that Palestian refugees had a problem with integrating into Iraq because Iraqi Law prevents refugees from becoming citizens and thus there is a perpetuation of a refugee identity. This alienation that Palestinians in Iraq are experiencing is rather interesting because these are Arab populations that are being barred from integrating into the host Arab population, which I find rather peculiar because it shows the level of incongruence in said societies (Zaman, 2011).

There are presently over 400,000 registered Palestinian refugees residing in 12 official camps and a number of unofficial camps and gatherings throughout Lebanon. These unofficial camps and gatherings were created as a result of displacement during the 1948 war as well as by population growth. The number of registered refuges does not account of the large numbers of unregistered Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon who are not eligible to receive assistance from the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA). These camps in Lebanon are widely recognized as having the worst living conditions of any of the Palestinian refugee camps. The majority of these Palestinian refugees lack citizenship and have been marginalized by Lebanese society, despite the fact that they are of the same ethnic background, have the same religion which is Islam (Ibrahim, 2008).

The reason for this is because most of the countries that host Palestinian refugees do not allow mechanisms for them to gain citizenship. As a result, there is a culture of perpetuating a refugee culture. All of this can be relieved if these people were integrated completely into their host nations, many of whom lived in said host nations for many a generation. The current Syrian Civil War that has led to the displacement of over 4 million Syrians, and Iraqis in refugee camps in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt is a long term problem. If the Palestinian refugee plight serves as a predictive tool, then the problems that they suffered in their host nations will be also experienced by the refugees in Turkey, Jordan et al. So long as legal processes are not changed to allow integration of refugees, then the socioeconomic toll will remain present. More importantly, so long as the war rages on in Syria and Iraq, the refugee crisis will continue to mount. Objectively, a solution remains beyond the horizon.


Best,
@Nihonjin1051


References:

Ibrahim, J. (2008). The Discrimination against Palestinian Refugees Living in Lebanon. Palestine-Israel Journal Of Politics, Economics & Culture, 15(1/2), 83-90.

Zaman, T. (2011). Lessons learned: Palestinian refugees from Baghdad to Damascus. International Journal Of Contemporary Iraqi Studies, 5(2), 263-275. doi:10.1386/ijcis.5.2.263_1

 

[Levina]

@Nihonjin1051
The title was a little misleading "The Socioeconomic Repercussions",nevertheless the article made for an interesting read.
2 days back I had read an article on how the syrian refugees were effecting Turkey socially.
Syria's refugees: fears of abuse grow as Turkish men snap up wives | World news | The Guardian

And a few stats from UNHCR...
The latest update of the Regional Response Plan for Syrian refugees totals US$2.9 billion.
- The governments of Lebanon and Jordan are also appealing for funds, asking for US$449 million and US$380 million respectively.
- The humanitarian appeal for inside Syria is for US$1.4 billion...
...This all adds up to US$5 billion, the largest appeal in history.
Stories from Syrian Refugees

Is a solution on the horizon?

No idea!!!
But the only way I can make a difference in their lives is by donating,starting a campaign (may be) and staying updated.Though ironically staying updated would mean watching more graphical videos and pictures from Syria.

 

[HariPrasad]

Rather than studying socio economic repercussion, they should study the cause of terrorism in these country.

 

[Aepsilons]

No idea!!!
But the only way I can make a difference in their lives is by donating,starting a campaign (may be) and staying updated.Though ironically staying updated would mean watching more graphical videos and pictures from Syria.

Sometimes, in the course of studying this humanitarian debacle, I personally can't help but feel a sense of empathy for the displaced people. Many of these refugees are not involved in any militant conflict, but are , unfortunately, the tragic examples of being caught in the crossfires of these varying political machinations. Reading accounts of pregnant Syrian women giving birth to children on the way to refugee camps in Turkey whilst waiting to find news of their family members --- it brings a complete sense of sadness to my heart. I agree with you, @levina , that what counts now is our personal contributions in the form of blood drive, to donations can make all the difference for many of these displaced people.

And a few stats from UNHCR...
The latest update of the Regional Response Plan for Syrian refugees totals US$2.9 billion.
- The governments of Lebanon and Jordan are also appealing for funds, asking for US$449 million and US$380 million respectively.
- The humanitarian appeal for inside Syria is for US$1.4 billion...
...This all adds up to US$5 billion, the largest appeal in history.
Stories from Syrian Refugees

Excellent update! Thank You.

 

[LeveragedBuyout]

@LeveragedBuyout

There are lessons that we can learn from the Palestinian refugees in the Middle East and the social problems that they continue to experience as refugees in foreign lands. This can be used as a measurement in understanding the social barriers that prevent ethnic, religious minorities from integrating into certain Arab societies. Zaman (2011) wrote article that sought to address the paucity of the research on Palestinian Iraqi communities. The analysis of refugee narratives gathered at the Palestinian Iraqi Association community center in Damascus reveals the dynamics of the refugee process in context of local integration with the host community.

It also considers the extent to which previous experiences and memory of being a refugee acts as a social and cultural resource, helping to create a distinctive geography of exile and means of bolstering welfare strategy. What I particularly find rather interesting that in the refugee narratives conducted and interpreted by Zaman (2011) is that the experience of dispossession for Palestinians in Iraq affirmed for many that attempts at integration are inconsequential unless accompanied by the right to citizenship.

The speed and ease with which Palestinians were scapegoated and coerced to abandon their homes in Baghdad has left many Palestinian Iraqis pursuing a re-settlement solution outside the Middle East. It should be noted that Palestian refugees had a problem with integrating into Iraq because Iraqi Law prevents refugees from becoming citizens and thus there is a perpetuation of a refugee identity. This alienation that Palestinians in Iraq are experiencing is rather interesting because these are Arab populations that are being barred from integrating into the host Arab population, which I find rather peculiar because it shows the level of incongruence in said societies (Zaman, 2011).

There are presently over 400,000 registered Palestinian refugees residing in 12 official camps and a number of unofficial camps and gatherings throughout Lebanon. These unofficial camps and gatherings were created as a result of displacement during the 1948 war as well as by population growth. The number of registered refuges does not account of the large numbers of unregistered Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon who are not eligible to receive assistance from the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA). These camps in Lebanon are widely recognized as having the worst living conditions of any of the Palestinian refugee camps. The majority of these Palestinian refugees lack citizenship and have been marginalized by Lebanese society, despite the fact that they are of the same ethnic background, have the same religion which is Islam (Ibrahim, 2008).

The reason for this is because most of the countries that host Palestinian refugees do not allow mechanisms for them to gain citizenship. As a result, there is a culture of perpetuating a refugee culture. All of this can be relieved if these people were integrated completely into their host nations, many of whom lived in said host nations for many a generation. The current Syrian Civil War that has led to the displacement of over 4 million Syrians, and Iraqis in refugee camps in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt is a long term problem. If the Palestinian refugee plight serves as a predictive tool, then the problems that they suffered in their host nations will be also experienced by the refugees in Turkey, Jordan et al. So long as legal processes are not changed to allow integration of refugees, then the socioeconomic toll will remain present. More importantly, so long as the war rages on in Syria and Iraq, the refugee crisis will continue to mount. Objectively, a solution remains beyond the horizon.


Best,
@Nihonjin1051

References:
Ibrahim, J. (2008). The Discrimination against Palestinian Refugees Living in Lebanon. Palestine-Israel Journal Of Politics, Economics & Culture, 15(1/2), 83-90.

Zaman, T. (2011). Lessons learned: Palestinian refugees from Baghdad to Damascus. International Journal Of Contemporary Iraqi Studies, 5(2), 263-275. doi:10.1386/ijcis.5.2.263_1

Impressive scholarship, as always, @Nihonjin1051 . It's an outrage that Arab countries have laws that specifically prevent Palestinians from integrating and assimilating, merely in the hope that by keeping the refugee issue festering, it can somehow restore a state to the Palestinian Arabs. What a mendacious and toxic foundation for policy, and can there be any clearer recipe for instability, especially as the Palestinian Arab population continues to grow in relation to the host countries' populations?

Should this example be replicated in the Syria and Iraq refugee crisis, we can essentially write off the possibility of a stable Middle East for two generations more, at the least. The short-sightedness is infuriating, but I must congratulate Turkey and Jordan for doing their best to accommodate these refugees and attempting to ameliorate--rather than aggravate--the refugee crisis.