MiReKoc BROAD-ER Working Paper Series: Urban Resilience and the Governance of Syrian Refugees in Turkish Cities by Ricard Zapata-Barrero

by Ricard Zapata-Barrero

Citation:

Zapata-Barrero, R. (2025). Urban resilience and the governance of Syrian refugees in Turkish cities. MiReKoc BROAD-ER Working Paper Series, Working Paper No. 2025-1. Available at https://mirekoc.ku.edu.tr/publications/reports-and-policy-briefs/

Abstract

The preliminary question to be addressed is how the Turkish system has managed to withstand the influx of Syrian refugees, who have now reached a population of over 3.5 million, according to official figures. In other words, how has the Turkish system been able to reinforce its hierarchical power structure in the state-city relationship, rather than succumbing to collapse? This WP presents a comprehensive analysis integrating a particular case of governmentality and chronotope politics, political culture, and urban resilience mentality. The analysis is informed by a study of three cities operating within diverse geographical and border contexts: Gaziantep, Istanbul and Izmir. Contrary to some theoretical assumptions, this study demonstrates how urban resilience functions as a conservative mechanism, thereby reinforcing the centralist system. The concept of urban resilience can be understood as the capacity of cities to formulate strategies in response to limitations in their governance capacities. These strategies involve the utilisation of institutional, structural, and legal resources to manage local responses to challenges related to refugees. Despite the assumption that such endeavours to rationalise governance capacities result in a redistribution of power and necessitate greater decentralisation, the findings in Turkish cities reveal a contrary phenomenon. This contradicts the assumptions made in the literature on the local turn, which posits that proactive cities necessarily involve de-centralisation of the refugee and migration regime.