Proceedings of the 24th International Academic Conference, Barcelona

DETERMINING THE SUITABILITY OF ALTERNATIVE LOCATIONS FOR SYRIAN REFUGEE CAMPS IN TURKEY USING EXTENDED VIKOR

TUFAN DEMIREL, SERHAT TÜZÜN

Abstract:

As the conflict in Syria deepens, the number of displaced Syrians crossing the border into Turkey has dramatically risen. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), there are 2,748,367 registered Syrian refugees in Turkey as of May 2016. On the other hand, the population of Syrian refugees in camps is estimated to be around 217,000 people, due to the lack of capacity. The demand for camps has surpassed the available spaces in the camps. On 22 October 2014, the Government of Turkey issued a regulation on protection, defining a status that refugees from Syria seeking international protection are admitted to Turkey and will not be sent back to Syria against his or her will. In addition, on 18 March 2016, EU and Turkey agreed to end the irregular migration from Turkey to the EU and replace it instead with legal channels of resettlement of refugees to the European Union. These two conditions lead to an urgent necessity to organize the situation of Syrian refugees in Turkey, who cannot be seen as temporary. For the settlement of Syrian refugees to Turkey, an adaptation process is necessary. Due to the lack of capacity and poor conditions in the current camps, new camps must be built. The aim of the present study is to analyze the alternative locations for building new refugee camps in Turkey, regarding the affecting factors, through Extended VIKOR. The problem is considered as a multi-criteria decision making problem. The factors affecting the suitability for new camps; mainly grouped as political, economic, demographic, and sociocultural; are taken into account as the main criteria. Alternatives are selected among a set of different locations that are already considered by the Turkish government and the UNHCR. The model developed uses experts’ views to quantify the effects of the factors for each location with the aid of fuzzy approach. The problem is then solved using Extended VIKOR and the locations for new Syrian Refugee Camps in Turkey are evaluated. Afterwards, a sensitivity analysis is applied to analyze system’s behavior to changes.

Keywords: Syrian Civil War, International Migration, Refugee Camps, Extended VIKOR, Multi-Criteria Decision Making.

DOI: 10.20472/IAC.2016.024.029

PDF: Download