Daily Life Experiences of Elderly Refugees: A Research on Izmir

Abstract

Since the 1980s, Turkey has become the target country of forced immigrants who are looking for a place to take shelter as a result of increasing tensions and conflicts in neighboring countries. Millions of people immigrated to Turkey individually or collectively because of the conflict, violence and persecution in their place of residence. The last major mass migration occurred in 2011 as a result of the civil war in Syria. Millions of Syrians, who have no security of life in their country and are seeking asylum, have migrated to Turkey. 3.7 million Syrians have been residing in Turkey for more than 10 years. The subject of this article is the daily lives of elderly Syrian refugees who migrated to Turkey as a result of the civil war in Syria. In the article, the daily lives of the elderly refugees in Turkey, which they rebuilt, are handled with a holistic approach, and the difficulties they encounter in their daily lives and the strategies they develop to overcome these difficulties are examined. In-depth interviews were conducted with 23 elderly Syrian refugees in Izmir. The obtained data were analyzed by descriptive analysis method.