From ‘affected populations’ to leaders: how Syrian refugees led an unprecedented humanitarian response in Türkiye

Syrian refugees began arriving in Türkiye in early 2012, shortly after the outbreak of the Syrian revolution. The waves of displacement grew steadily as the conflict expanded in scope and as military operations against Syrian cities and villages intensified. By 2016, Türkiye had become the world’s largest refugee-hosting country, with approximately 2.7 million registered Syrian refugees. Among the principal drivers of the surge in displacement during this period were the escalating military campaigns waged against cities and towns by the forces of the former regime and its allies, as well as the seizures by the Islamic State organisations of vast swathes of Syrian territory (most notably, the three eastern governorates of Deir ez-Zur, Raqqa and Hasakah, along with portions of the governorates of Aleppo, Homs and Idlib).

The flow of Syrian refugees into Türkiye did not cease until shortly before the fall of the Assad regime at the close of 2024.

A significant proportion of Syrian refugees settled in the southern Turkish provinces of Urfa, Gaziantep and Kilis. Most had originated from the Syrian governorates of Raqqa, Deir ez-Zur, Hasakah and Aleppo.

Several factors explain this geographic concentration. These provinces lie in close proximity to the Syrian border, making them a natural first point of entry. Many refugees also had pre-existing social ties with local Turkish communities of Arab descent. And perhaps most powerfully, many were simply following family members and relatives who had already settled there.

This article traces how Syrian refugee-led initiatives in Türkiye evolved and transformed over time and examines how they came to express themselves as a civic and humanitarian endeavour. It further reviews the interventions that were carried out and explores how accumulated knowledge and expertise were leveraged to develop experience, ensure continuity and secure long-term sustainability.

From ‘beneficiaries’ to leaders

At the outset, Syrian refugees in Türkiye were direct recipients of the support and assistance provided by international and Turkish organisations, as well as certain initiatives launched by the host community. There were few, if any, meaningful or clearly defined roles available to refugees in leading, or even participating in, humanitarian response operations. This reality, however, changed quickly. From early 2013 onward, the following decade witnessed a significant and cumulative shift: refugees began taking on increasingly active roles in leading and implementing response efforts, building on one another’s contributions over time.

It began with grassroots initiatives launched by volunteer groups seeking to provide refugees with necessities such as household supplies, food staples, winter clothing, blankets, heating materials and school supplies. These goods were sourced through a combination of approaches, either through collecting donations from within the refugee community itself A group of Syrian women in Şanlıurfa took the initiative to launch the ‘Open Your Wardrobe’ campaign, with the aim of securing winter clothing and distributing it to refugees in need. , reaching out to Syrian diaspora communities in the Gulf and Europe Heating supplies and special Ramadan food baskets were secured by reaching out to Syrian donors; this initiative has become a regular fixture of Ramadan to this day. , or coordinating with organisations and official and civil society bodies to procure and deliver aid to those in need.

Alongside these efforts, a pivotal transformation took place with the emergence of Syrian civil society organisations as structured, institutionally grounded entities. These organisations brought with them a clear vision and methodology for humanitarian work, encompassing defined roles, mechanisms and objectives, and were staffed primarily by Syrians.

Volunteer groups, particularly women and youth, were among the first community groups these organisations sought to engage. They provided them with technical and administrative support, and opened doors to funding opportunities, grants, networking, training and capacity-building.

This period proved to be a defining moment and a mutually beneficial one for both sides. Civil society organisations gained access to volunteer teams and community networks as implementing partners, enabling them to advance projects, strengthen civic spaces and broaden community participation. Volunteer groups and teams, for their part, benefited in multiple ways. They were introduced to the concepts and practice of civic work. They gained structure, organisation and capacity. They took part in activities, training sessions and workshops This includes training in mobilisation, advocacy, empowerment, forming civil bodies, managing civil workspaces, network-building, policy development, and role distribution, among other areas. . And perhaps most meaningfully, this period fostered new connections and collaborations among refugees arriving from different Syrian governorates, turning shared displacement into a foundation for collective action.

This collaboration between the two sides helped break down stereotypes held by some refugees about others. It strengthened social relations and the humanitarian and national dimensions to public discourse, while firmly establishing a values-based and rights-based framework as the guiding reference for all work and interventions. As a result, between 2014 and 2024 Urfa witnessed the rise of a dynamic space for civic engagement, activity and collective action.

The result was both fruitful and telling. Many volunteer teams were able to seize these valuable opportunities and transform into licensed, active civil society organisations capable of securing funding, support and resources. Examples include Homecountry’s Flowers, Women of Tomorrow, and the Euphrates, among others This is a translation of its official Arabic names, (ورد البلد) ,(نساء الغد) and (الفرات) .

In a conversation with us, Amal al-Hajj, founder and Executive Director of El Furat, an organisation active in the Turkish city of Urfa, spoke about the role played by the Center for Civil Society and Democracy (CCSD) in helping her volunteer team evolve into a licensed civil society organisation. Amal says:

‘Before obtaining official registration, the Center played a pivotal role in supporting the El Furat team through capacity-building and training in facilitation skills and the management of community sessions. This support helped strengthen the team’s readiness to carry out fieldwork professionally, increased members’ confidence in themselves and in their ability to lead initiatives and improved the quality of the activities implemented. Our team became able to carry out effective interventions and respond to the needs of our community in a more impactful way.’

After El Furat obtained official registration, its cooperation with CCSD evolved to include in-depth institutional support. Amal says:

‘The Center provided us with the technical support needed to develop our strategies and define our long-term directions. It also contributed to developing our internal policies and procedures to strengthen governance and structured ways of working and offered us institutional guidance and mentoring to build a clear and effective administrative system.’

A space for collaboration

Alongside local community initiatives, the experience of ‘a space for collaboration’ emerged as a women-led model, originating in Türkiye before expanding to include active women from inside Syria and beyond. The initiative is built around coordination and exchange among women, and focuses on supporting community-driven efforts, whether or not external funding is available. This approach has given it a high degree of flexibility and staying power.

During the response to the 2023 earthquake, the Space for Collaboration played a meaningful role in making pyschosocial support activities accessible to women affected by the disaster, while also connecting local initiatives and facilitating the exchange of expertise among active women. Today, it continues to advocate for Syrian refugee women, shining a light on the challenges they face and pushing for more inclusive responses.

This experience reflects an important shift. Women’s roles are no longer confined to participation in humanitarian response – they now extend to leading it and shaping its priorities, within a flexible model that transcends the conventional boundaries of humanitarian work. This collaboration has also contributed significantly to strengthening the institutional foundation of the El Furat organisation, elevating it to a higher level of professionalism. This has had a positive impact on the quality of its programmes and its capacity to work effectively alongside donors and partners.

The harrowing test: the 2023 earthquake

Through their civic engagement in organisations, working groups and community networks, Syrian refugees had transformed themselves from passive ‘beneficiaries’ into agile and responsive actors, capable of leading and participating in interventions during times of crisis. Perhaps the most compelling examples that support this assertion are what occurred following 6 February 2023, when the devastating earthquake struck Türkiye and northern and western Syria.

Less than 12 hours after the earthquake struck, a group of refugees converted one of the largest Syrian-owned cafés in Urfa into a shelter for displaced families. Over the course of a full month, they secured heating supplies and food necessities for more than 40 families by collecting individual donations and mobilising support from Syrian communities abroad. In parallel, communication and coordination groups formed across neighbourhoods and districts to aid those affected and to help relocate them to safety.

Car owners, for instance, placed their vehicles at the community’s disposal, transporting affected residents within Urfa and beyond, free of charge. A culture of shared housing also emerged in safer areas, with several affected families taking up residence together under one roof – particularly during the critical first week following the disaster. Meanwhile, young people with proficiency in Turkish stepped in to assist affected families wishing to travel outside Urfa, helping them complete flight bookings and providing interpretation services at the airport.

As for civil society organisations, they redirected all their projects and funding toward supporting earthquake-affected communities through collaborative initiatives and activities. The CCSD, working with its partners, supported initiatives to prepare and distribute food baskets, blankets, health supplies and stationery. It also organised pyschosocial support activities for various community groups, particularly women and children.

The earthquake experience clearly demonstrated the capacity and resilience of community intervention networks in crisis response. Their performance stood apart from conventional interventions carried out by international organisations and official bodies. This distinction stems from two strengths these networks possess. First, they hold a deep and nuanced understanding of the Syrian context and its social spaces. Second, they can reach affected populations smoothly and safely, thanks to accumulated social relationships that have built strong bonds of trust between service providers and those they serve. In major crises, community networks therefore represent a valuable opportunity for achieving a fast and effective humanitarian response. They draw on community-rooted knowledge, relationships and experience on one side, and on sound institutional capacities in terms of objectives and working methods on the other. That said, this complimentary picture does not erase real challenges. Organisations and working groups compete for funding. Coordination on where and when to intervene is sometimes absent. These issues call for new forms of collaboration and better joint coordination plans.

2024: the moment of great change

The collapse of the Assad regime in Syria at the end of 2024 was met with an overwhelming wave of joy. Syrians envisioned a state that would guarantee security and lasting peace for all of them. That joy, however, soon began to dissolve due to several factors, including armed groups operating with impunity, the proliferation of hate speech, the immense economic crisis, and the enactment of laws that disregard human rights and women’s rights. All this produced deep frustration among many Syrian refugees in Türkiye and a growing reluctance to return, particularly among those from the eastern provinces.

In addition, a series of decisions and developments had already made it increasingly difficult for families who wished and were able to remain. Compounding this was a sharp decline in funding and support directed at Syrian refugees, civil society organisations and humanitarian bodies. As a result, a large share of Syrians in Türkiye lost their livelihoods. Community networks consequently suffered a drastic erosion in their capacity to intervene and provide support during humanitarian crises.

These shifts compounded a set of challenges that community networks and civil society organisations had been contending with for years. They included the following:

1. The language barrier and communication difficulties between refugees, the host community, and official bodies undermined accurate needs assessments and weakened the overall impact of humanitarian responses.
2. Hostile attitudes toward the presence of Syrian refugees in Türkiye, which at times crossed into deliberate political exploitation, combined with the absence of a strong, visible counter-narrative.
3. Legal and procedural obstacles surrounding the documentation of refugees. The majority held temporary protection cards, which prohibited movement between provinces without prior authorisation.

Taken together, these challenges obstructed the full realisation of Syrian civil and community expertise in Türkiye. That expertise had the potential to serve as a genuine force multiplier for humanitarian interventions in times of crisis. It could also have transcended Türkiye’s borders and offered a relevant, inspiring model for civil work inside Syria itself.

Toward more equitable, refugee-led partnerships

It is essential to explore how the experience of Syrian refugee community networks in Türkiye can be built upon and sustained. This experience is the product of more than a decade of investment in effort and resources. It has succeeded in generating a civil and community reality that deserves serious attention and continued development. Realising this potential requires a participatory process in which all stakeholders contribute visions, ideas and proposals. The following are some recommendations we offer in this context:

1. Engagement with Turkish official and civil society bodies should be deepened. The aim is to identify, from a Turkish perspective, the strengths and weaknesses of Syrian community network activity. This serves several objectives: building mutual trust between the two sides, identifying shared goals and pursuing them jointly, tracking changes in Turkish laws and official procedures to ensure legal cover for initiatives and interventions, and cultivating partnerships and funding opportunities with Turkish counterparts.
2. Focused dialogues and roundtable discussions among Syrian community networks should be convened. Their purpose is to document the impact of the experience and to develop partnership proposals that can be channelled to Turkish civil society networks.
3. It is important to highlight the efforts made so far in meetings with donors and to encourage them to strengthen their support for these networks.
4. The Syrian landscape in Türkiye must be reassessed considering the recent changes that have reshaped the Syrian civil space. The goal is to understand the nature and scale of current needs and the scope for intervention. To that end, a structured programme of workshops, roundtables and focused dialogues should be developed, bringing together Syrian civil society organisations and community networks. These sessions should produce clear accounts of the experience, document success stories, map out challenges, and draw out lessons learned. The outputs should be shared with relevant Syrian and Turkish official bodies and international organisations, with the aim of developing a strategy and action plan spanning at least five years.

We, the refugees, did not leave our land by choice. We could not prevent the tragedies, the catastrophes and the violations that befell us. Yet we found the strength to transform this bitter reality into a profound human experience. Through it, we gained knowledge, expertise and lessons that we aspire today to preserve and build upon. Our destination is a society grounded in peace, coexistence, equal citizenship and human rights.

Areej Al-Mohammad is a civil society activist based in Şanlıurfa, Southern Türkiye. She is a member of the Space for Collaboration initiative.