Shaping Anti-Syrian Perceptions in Turkey: Anthropological and Political Science Approaches
Date and Time
Location
The Center for Middle Eastern Studies presents
Dr. Ezgi Canpolat, Visiting Scholar at Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES), and
Ahmet Akbiyik, Ph.D. candidate in Political Economy and Government at Harvard Kennedy School
This event brings together the research of Dr. Ezgi Canpolat, Visiting Scholar at Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES), and Ahmet Akbiyik, a Ph.D. candidate in Political Economy and Government at Harvard Kennedy School, to delve into how anti-Syrian refugee perceptions and attitudes in Turkey are shaped by national identity, foreign aid, and broader socio-political dynamics. This interdisciplinary conversation draws on both anthropological and political science perspectives to explore the complex factors driving these sentiments.
Turkey, host to the world’s largest refugee population with over 4 million refugees—3.5 million of whom are Syrians—has witnessed a significant rise in anti-Syrian sentiments. By 2019, nearly half of the population viewed relations between Turks and Syrians as one of the country’s most pressing social issues. By 2021, 82% of Turks expressed the desire for Syrians to return to their homeland. In response to these growing tensions, a transnational humanitarian and development system emerged in Turkey following the Syrian Civil War’s onset in 2011.
Ezgi Canpolat is a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies, holding a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Her doctoral research explores themes of migration, humanitarianism, nationalism, identity formation, and the nuanced experiences of social belonging and unbelonging.
Ahmet Akbiyik is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Economy and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School, with research primarily focused on migration, social cohesion, and the role of misinformation in shaping intergroup relations. He is affiliated with The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and The Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS), and his work has received grants from J-PAL at MIT and The Stone Program at Harvard.