Turkey’s Syrian Refugees Dilemma between the Triangle of Violence

Abstract

This paper studies the worsening relations between the Syrian refugees and the citizens of Turkey and argues that the current state of relations can be understood as an example of the renowned pacifist Johann Galtung’s negative peace concept. While no military dispute exists in Turkey, the relationship between refugees and the people of Turkey lacks the behaviour, institutions, and organizations sine qua non (essential) to make and survive the peace that Galtung identifies as positive peace. Turkey is not a kind of advanced democracy with cosmopolitan culture. Maintaining this kind of all-embracing peace in Turkey requires a comprehensive settlement including efforts to get the international community to be involved more, avoiding political rhetoric that securitizes the issue, furthering training and education programs for the orientation of the refugees, clarifying the statute of the refugees and preparing the ground for the return of refugees to their country, if possible.