Problems Faced by Syrian Migrant Entrepreneurs during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Ankara

Abstract

While costing the lives of more than two and a half million people around the world, Covid-19 also deeply affects migrants. Precautions taken against Covid-19 in Turkey continue to affect Syrian immigrant entrepreneurs as well as Turkish citizens. This study focused on the problems that Syrian -micro-scale- entrepreneurs in the Altındağ region of Ankara face during the Covid-19 pandemic. We interviewed Syrian immigrant entrepreneurs who participated in the "Entrepreneurship Support Program" of the Turkish Red Crescent. In this study, one of the methods and techniques of qualitative research, descriptive analysis, was used with semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with Syrian immigrant entrepreneurs. Based on the approaches to immigrant entrepreneurship and the theory of disadvantage, how they were affected from the precautions taken against the Covid-19 were discussed. In the end, first, the type of support that Syrian immigrant entrepreneurs need to minimize the problems they experience was determined. Then, the mechanisms to support immigrant entrepreneurs and the policies to be developed in this direction, cooperation and responsibility sharing with the European Union and neighboring countries, and solutions to support the entrepreneurship ecosystem were evaluated.