Navigating Perspectives: Women's Organizations and Syrian Refugee Engagement in Turkey

In the realm of understanding mixed non-governmental organizations' perspectives on the Syrian women refugees in Turkey, a myriad of research exists, shedding light on their roles within social cohesion processes. Despite this extensive body of work, significant gaps persist regarding the nuanced engagements of women's organizations with their Syrian counterparts. Leveraging empirical data gathered through 27 in-depth face-to-face interviews with women's organization representatives across Istanbul, Izmir, and Gaziantep in 2022, our aim is to elucidate the multifaceted ways in which these groups interact with Syrian women refugees and the manifestations of solidarity within these engagements. Notably, our findings demonstrate that the majority of women's organizations exhibit minimal or no involvement with Syrian refugee women and the overarching issue of refugeeness and delineate distinct approaches adopted by women's organizations, namely feminist, conflictual, philanthropic, and reluctant (hostile or hesitant), to the Syrian women refugee identity and refugeeness. Our argument posits that gender does not emerge as the primary determinant influencing women's organizations' perspectives on Syrian refugee women. Instead, we contend that the pivotal factor lies in the representatives' attitudes towards the migration process from Syria to Turkey and their overarching perspectives on the identity of Syrian refugees. Within the women's movement in Turkey, particularly in relation to Syrian women refugees, the refugee issue stands out as a scenario that questions the core principles of transnational feminism.