Validation of Economic Capital Models: State of the Practice, Supervisory Expectations and Results from a Bank Study

Emerging Transnational Practices and Capabilities of Syrian Refugees in Turkey

MIGRATION LETTERS ◽

10.33182/ml.v17i1.852 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 125-138

Author(s):

Zeynep Sahin Mencütek

Keyword(s):

Legal Status ◽

Country Of Origin ◽

Economic Security ◽

Economic Capital ◽

Diaspora Studies ◽

Cross Border ◽

Global North ◽

Displaced People ◽

The Stability ◽

Transnational Activities

Transnational activities of refugees in the Global North have been long studied, while those of the Global South, which host the majority of displaced people, have not yet received adequate scholarly attention. Drawing from refugee studies, transnationalism and diaspora studies, the article focuses on the emerging transnational practices and capabilities of displaced Syrians in Turkey. Relying on qualitative data drawn from interviews in Şanlıurfa – a border province in south-eastern Turkey that hosts half a million Syrians - the paper demonstrates the variations in the types and intensity of Syrians’ transnational activities and capabilities. It describes the low level of individual engagement of Syrians in terms of communicating with relatives and paying short visits to the hometowns as well as the intentional disassociation of young refugees from homeland politics. At the level of Syrian grassroots organisations, there have been mixed engagement initiatives emerging out of sustained cross-border processes. Syrians with higher economic capital and secured legal status have formed some economic, political, and cultural institutional channels, focusing more on empowerment and solidarity in the receiving country than on plans for advancement in the country of origin. Institutional attempts are not mature enough and can be classified as transnational capabilities, rather than actual activities that allow for applying pressure on the host and home governments. This situation can be attributed to the lack of political and economic security in the receiving country as well as no prospects for the stability in the country of origin. The study also concerns questions about the conceptual debates on the issue of refugee diaspora. Whilst there are clear signs of diaspora formation of the Syrian refugee communities, perhaps it is still premature to term Syrians in Turkey as refugee diaspora.

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Collective Resource Mobilisation for Economic Survival within the Kurdish and Turkish Communities in London

BORDER CROSSING ◽

10.33182/bc.v6i2.492 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 219-239

Author(s):

Olgu Karan

Keyword(s):

Small Business ◽

Textile Industry ◽

Economic Capital ◽

Small Business Owners ◽

Coffee Shop ◽

Business Ownership ◽

Economic Survival ◽

Collective Resource ◽

Resource Mobilisation ◽

Depth Interviews

This paper proposes a new conceptual framework in understanding the dynamics within the Kurdish and Turkish (KT) owned firms in London by utilising Charles Tilly’s work concerning collective resource mobilisation. Drawing on 60 in-depth interviews with restaurant, off-licence, kebab-shop, coffee-shop, supermarket, wholesaler owners and various community organisations, the paper sheds light upon the questions of why and how the KT communities in London moved into, and are over represented and why Turkish Cypriots are absent in small business ownership. The re-search illustrates that members of the KT communities aligned in their interests to become small business owners after the demise of textile industry in the midst of 1990s in London. The interest alignment in small business ownership required activation of various forms of capital and transposition of social, cultural and economic capital into one another.

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