War Hits the Women: Marriage as Syrian Women’s Coping Mechanism and Its Impact on Turkish Women

The peaceful public demonstrations that began in the Syrian town of Daraa in March 2011 against the Bashar al-Assad regime turned into a civil war when the regime forces attacked the protestors. The Syrian civil war that has now been going on for more than six years, caused hundreds of thousands of Syrian citizens to die and millions to seek refuge in neighboring countries. As of September 2017, Turkey has become the country which hosts the greatest number of refugees in the world by serving as host to over 3 million Syrian refugees within its borders. In order to analyze the impact of the Syrian refugees on Turkey, semi-structured interviews were conducted with both Turkish citizens and Syrian refugees in Hatay and Gaziantep. The research revealed that, in addition to unfortunate consequences in the labor market, the housing market, and healthcare services, the Syrian refugees’ arrival to Turkey caused serious social problems especially in the border provinces. Child brides and religious marriages have been central to these problems. It was observed that the Syrian families are inclined to consent to marry off their very young daughters because of the economic hardships they experience. By doing this, the families hope to lessen the burden of the household, guarantee more secure futures for their daughters, and protect their daughters’ honor under the so-called protection of a husband. In addition, Syrian women enter into religious marriages with both single and married Turkish men; these marriages have no legal basis, according to Turkish civil law. Therefore, the children who are born from these marriages are considered stateless. These problems have both had a considerable impact on life in Turkey. First, the prevalence of child brides among Syrians worsened the child-bride problem in Turkey. Second, the marriages that take place between Syrian women and married Turkish men serve to victimize the Turkish women and force them to unwillingly accept their situations (mostly due to financial dependency on their spouses); these marriages also damage the Turkish family structure.

Keywords

Syrian refugees, child brides, religious marriages, women, Turkey