Precarity of refugees: the case of Basmane-Izmir, Turkey

Abstract

Over the last decade, the precarity of refugees and temporary migrants and its associated ambiguities is an increasing focus of scholarly inquiry and policy debate. In particular, the Syrian conflict since 2011 has led to dramatic refugee crises especially in terms of the number of people displaced into neighbouring countries, including Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, with Turkey hosting the largest refugee population in the world. Within Turkey, Syrian refugees are concentrated in camps, border towns, major cities and particular urban neighbourhoods. The Basmane neighbourhood, an old inner city quarter of Izmir, Turkey, is a special case, and we directly observe and detail various dimensions of the precarity of Syrian immigrants there at the apex of the refugee flow, and assess how temporary migration affected Izmir's permanent residents. Focusing on physical and social transformations in Basmane, we concentrate on the intra-relationships among place, refugees, and locals and seek to contribute to the debate of how (un)settled situations of refugees produce differential pathways for adaptation and experiences of precarity. The research indicates that socio-spatial dynamics in Basmane contributes to the adaptation of refugees and affects their precarity as the hub for temporary immigrants in Izmir.