The Reformer Perspective of Welfare Services for Syrian Being Given Temporary Protection Status on the Welfare System of Turkey
Nergis DamaAs welfare typology that has been taken on by Turkey, the features of the South European welfare regime have been distinguished in welfare services such as accommodation, health, education, and, social protection. Education and health services are provided both of public and private sectors as regards South European welfare regime on the condition that the corporatist and social-democratic welfare implementations will emerge. Moreover, the social security has ensured the social protection of an individual and the household, and the welfare classification of Turkey is regarded as South European welfare regime. Furthermore, the new perspective for welfare typology that has been adopted by Turkey has occurred because of Syrian migration to begin in 2011 and exceed over 3.5 million in 2019. The services including accommodation, health, and education especially for Syrians to have temporary protection status have changed the social state perception and welfare regime of Turkey about its distinctive system. The policies and implementation in accommodation, education, and health, which are the basic welfare services, have been analyzed in this study using the data obtained by the Ministry of Education, Directorate General of Migration Management, and Turkish Statistical Institute, and whether these implementations cause new perspective of welfare typology system of Turkey or not have been discussed.
Geçici Koruma Statüsündeki Suriyelilere Sunulan Refah Hizmetlerinin Türkiye’nin Refah Sistemindeki Dönüştürücü Perspektifi
Nergis DamaBarınma, sağlık, eğitim, sağlık ve sosyal koruma gibi refah hizmetlerinin sunumunda Türkiye’nin benimsediği refah tipolojisi olarak Güney Avrupa refah rejiminin özellikleri öne çıkmaktadır. Muhafazakâr ve sosyal demokrat refah uygulamalarının karma bir şekilde gerçekleşmesi, eğitim ve sağlık hizmetinin devlet tarafından ücretsiz olmasına rağmen bu iki alanda da özel sektöre imkân verilmesi, sosyal güvenliğin bireysel istihdamla birlikte hane bazlı bir koruma sağlaması, vb. faktörler, Türkiye’nin refah rejimi sınıflandırmasını bu kategoriye yerleştirmiştir. Ancak 2011 yılında başlayan ve 2019 yılında 3.5 milyonu aşan Suriyelilere yönelik temel refah hizmetlerinde uygulanan politikalar benimsenen refah tipolojisinde dair yeni bir perspektif oluşturmuştur. Özellikle geçici koruma statüsüne sahip Suriyelilere sunulan barınma, sağlık ve eğitim hizmetleri, Türkiye’nin sosyal devlet anlayışı ve refah rejimini kendine özgü bir sisteme dönüştürmektedir. Bu çalışmada, 2012-2019 döneminde temel refah hizmetlerinden olan barınma, eğitim ve sağlık alanında Suriyelilere yönelik izlenen politika ve uygulamalar, Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı, İçişleri Bakanlığı Göç İdaresi Genel Müdürlüğü (GİGM) ve Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (TÜİK) verileri kullanılarak refah hizmetlerinden faydalanma durumu incelenmiş, bu uygulamaların Türkiye’nin refah sistemi tipolojisinde yeni bir perspektif oluşturup oluşturmadığı tartışılmıştır.
The actors that provide financing and welfare services, who are the target audience in the classification of the welfare system, are held as the main variables. There can be three main typologies of welfare regimes according to this classification: the corporatist, liberal, and social-democratic welfare system. The implementations are determined by employment connection in terms of the corporatist welfare system, and the main actor is accepted as a family, whereas the basis actor is public institutions concerning the social-democratic welfare regime. As for the liberal welfare regime, the poorest people have been protected by the government. Hence, this classification has been varied as regards economic, social, and political conditions that have been changed. Providing equal and fair services to all individuals in the housing, education, and health sectors is the primary implementation tool that ensures equal opportunities for the participation of individuals with weak and fragile socioeconomic characteristics in economic and social life. Providing access to education and health services by strengthening the socioeconomic characteristics with welfare services means reducing the disadvantageous period of the individual and applying the social state principle. In the disadvantaged group, which includes identity categories such as poor, disabled, old, young, women, and children, migrants stand out as a fragile group to consider. In this period when migration mobility is highly active, welfare services to be applied for immigrants differ according to the welfare typology of the countries.
The poorest segment was chosen as the target audience to be supported by the public in the liberal welfare system. When their encountering problems with the language, education, shelter, income, culture, etc., of immigrants are considered, it is inevitable for migrants to be among the target audience. In this system, where education and health services are paid migrants are economic costs by making the “most fragile” distinction even by their own citizens. In countries that adopt the conservative welfare system, the keyword is the need for labor power. The presence of migrants in the labor market facilitates access to welfare services. The right to equal welfare is advocated for all individuals in the social-democratic welfare regime; however, benefiting from welfare services is realized with the criteria of “full employment” in this system. “Citizenship” is the primary criterion in benefiting from welfare services even in the social-democratic welfare regime, which is accepted as the most ideal welfare system. The welfare regime that defines the welfare system of Greece, Spain, Italy, and Spain is the Southern European welfare regime. Having common features with conservative and social-democratic welfare leads Turkey to be included in this group.
However, migration mobility caused by the events in Syria that began in 2011 has brought Turkey to the country hosting the most refugees around the world in 2020.It has required the importance of two basic welfare services for Syrians: shelter and health due to the acceptance that they will remain for a temporary period. Training services were managed temporarily, again in temporary accommodation centers and in the Temporary Education Center. However, because the current situation in Syria has not changed post 2014 and the population has exceeded 3 million Syrians in Turkey, it became necessary to institutionalize the welfare services. The intensity of the Syrian population has led to the perception that the welfare services provided to foreigners in Turkey are only for the Syrians. However, Turkey receives very active migration mobility from Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan, Iraq, etc. Welfare services for immigrants, even evaluated in Syria in particular, require a new classification of not only Turkey’s immigration policy but also welfare typology.
