How COVID-19 financially hit urban refugees: evidence from mixed-method research with citizens and Syrian refugees in Turkey

Abstract

Peering through a lens of disasters and inequalities, this article measures the financial impacts of Covid-19 on citizens and refugee communities in Turkey during a relatively early phase of the global pandemic. Our data comes from an online survey (N = 1749) conducted simultaneously with Turkish citizens and Syrian refugees living in Turkey, followed by in-depth online interviews with Syrian refugees. Our findings indicate that the initial Covid-19 measures had a higher financial impact on Syrians than on citizens when controlled for employment, wealth, and education, among other variables. In line with the literature, our research confirms that disasters' socio-economic effects disproportionally burden minority communities. We additionally discuss how Covid-19 measures have significantly accelerated effects on refugees compared to the local population, mainly due to the structural and policy context within which forcibly displaced Syrians have been received in Turkey.