Multiple Views on Return Migration to Northern Syria

Bibliographic Data

ID4917700
AuthorsRafif Idlebi (0000-0003-3671-0250, Department of Administration Gaziantep University Gaziantep Turkey, corresponding author), Hanadi Omaish Abdullah (0000-0003-0255-4325, Department of Informatic Engineering Sham University Azaz Syria)
Year2025
Volume75
Issue255
Pages193-207
Publication date2025-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Social Science Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-8701 • E-ISSN: 1468-2451
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/issj.12545
OpenAlexW4403779284
LanguageEN
References cited25

Media, humanitarian organisations and host governments have increasingly talked about returning refugees affected by a more than a decade-long conflict in Syria. However, the northern Syria region does not offer adequate living conditions for return; this region is currently unfit for settlement, and it is impossible to attract Syrians to return to it, regardless of the lack of security and the political issues that many scholars have discussed. This study was conducted in early 2023 in two regions including four areas in northern Syria (Jarabulus, Azaz, Al-Bab and Afrin) and three provinces in Türkiye (Istanbul, Gaziantep and Mersin). We compare the opinions of Syrian refugees in Türkiye and Syrians who had been internally displaced and who resettled in the northern region. The purpose of the comparison is to understand the views of both Syrians in Türkiye and in northern Syria regarding whether the region is attractive to them or not. However, the results confirm that people are not willing to return, as the push factors overcome the pull factors. The data collection among Türkiye-based Syrians and northern Syria's residents enabled us to work with different opinion-making processes: The assessment of today's Syrian services results from the direct witness of current dwellers and the views of Türkiye-based refugees. Through a large-scale survey, our study aims to identify the push factors that induce refugees to discount the possibility of returning to the northern Syrian region, including the lack of job opportunities and basic services such as potable water, electricity, fuel, Internet, adequate education and healthcare

Development economics · Economic geography · Economics · Ethnology · Geography · Political science · Sociology · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Health and Trauma · Migration, Refugees, and Integration

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