The political geography of migration in Turkey: university students' perception of Afghan and Syrian migrants

The phenomenon of [international] migration, which is defined as the spatial expression of the processes of control and conflict over power and parts of geographical space, has become a means of marginalization. Human mobility, which increases especially in different regions due to political and geographical developments such as war, terrorism, and climate change, leads to multidimensional opportunities and problems both in the source geography of migration and in the countries where migration takes place. At this point, Turkey has become the center of migration flows occurring in different geographies due to its geopolitical position. It has also become a country where problems arising from migration have increased in sociopolitical, cultural, and economic terms. In this context, this study aims to analyze local and international students' perception of the marginalization of Afghan and Syrian migrants in the relationship of political geography and migration. In the study, which is based on the quantitative research method, a total of 335 students, 217 Turkish citizens and 118 foreign nationals, from 16 different cities of Turkey, were included using non-random sampling. The survey data obtained from local and international students, using the scale of immigrant perception, were analyzed using SPSS software. The research revealed a significant difference in the perceptions between local participants and international students towards Afghan and Syrian immigrants. At this point, it was determined in the study that local participants came to the fore with the negative dimensions of marginalization (danger and social exclusion), while international students with the positive dimensions (humanism and social inclusion). In addition, there was a significant difference between local and international participants in t-test averages.