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The civil war in Syria resulted in a massive population influx into the neighboring countries since 2011. Geographical proximity of Turkey and its position as a gateway to Europe have made Turkey a host country for most Syrians refugees. Prolonging civil war in Syria and difficulties to get access to Europe compelled them to stay in Turkey. The reason why they have settled down in certain cities and difficulties that they have encountered in their everyday life merit attention to understand the very issue of refugee problems in Turkey. On that purpose, we conducted a sociological research on Syrians who settled in Gaziantep and İzmir. This paper tries to examine the degree to which Syrians are integrated into the local labour market and problems that Syrians endure in everyday life activities. The research is drawn from a fieldwork conducted on 30 semi-depth interviews in Gaziantep and 27 in İzmir. The results show that the reasons for Syrian to make a living in Gaziantep are its proximity to Syria, cultural familiarity and opportunities for Syrians entrepreneurs to do business. As for İzmir, Syrians stated its closeness to Europe, availability of jobs and better life prospect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

203 Vesek & Sugur, Urban Life Experiences of Syrians in Turkey: The Cases of Gaziantep and Izmir The Reasons Syrians Prefer Izmir Izmir is a city with a population of over 3 million and also offers a number of job opportunities for refugees. Urban L fe Exper ences of Syr ans n Turkey e Cases of Gaz antep and Izm r Introduction The influx of Syrian refugees has become a global phenomenon since the Syrian civil war started in 2011. To avoid the widespread hate speech and verbal and physical abuses from some local people, Syrian refugees try to stick together, settle in the same neighborhoods where Syrian refugees reside, refrain from speaking Arabic on public transportation, do shopping from Syrian markets, and socialize in close circle with the other Syrians. In comparison to the Syrian refugees in Gaziantep, most Syrians living in Izmir are more inclined to go to Europe than back to their homeland in Syria. [Extracted from the article]