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Fikra Forum

Fikra Forum

خلق الحوار. التأثير على السياسة.

Generating Dialogue. Impacting Policy.

How Displaced Syrians Navigate Their Status in Turkey

Omar Kush

While Syrian refugees in Turkey often enjoy far better conditions than their compatriots in Arab countries, the majority of Syrians in Turkey—both within and outside of the country’s refugee camps—face difficulties when it comes to employment, residency rights, integration, and movement between Turkish provinces. Despite these challenges, the prospect of granting citizenship to Syrians has stirred an uproar in Turkish political circles and sparked a national debate over the future of Syrian refugees in the country.

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"Sorry, You Have Been out of Bounds”: A Profile of the Palestinian Youth Generation

Michael Milstein

In his work The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, (1895) French sociologist and social psychologist Gustave Le Bon writes, “The great upheavals which precede changes of civilisations… seem at first sight determined more especially by political transformations.” However, he argues, “A more attentive study of these events shows that behind their apparent causes the real cause is generally seen to be a profound modification in the ideas of the peoples.” A systematic tracking of underlying trends in Palestinian society apart from the common preoccupation with political and security issues reveals that Palestinian society is undergoing dramatic change of the kind described by Le Bon.

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Assad Is Not a Protector of the Church

Hadeel Oueis

As Assad tightens his grip on Syria and directs his troops to Idlib, his supporters have begun to spin new stories to justify the regime, presenting a distorted narrative of ‘religious tolerance’ under his rule. In fact, both Assad the father and Assad the son have had a much darker legacy in terms of their approach to religion.

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Fikra Forum is an initiative of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The views expressed by Fikra Forum contributors are the personal views of the individual authors, and are not necessarily endorsed by the Institute, its staff, Board of Directors, or Board of Advisors.​​

منتدى فكرة هو مبادرة لمعهد واشنطن لسياسة الشرق الأدنى. والآراء التي يطرحها مساهمي المنتدى لا يقرها المعهد بالضرورة، ولا موظفيه ولا مجلس أدارته، ولا مجلس مستشاريه، وإنما تعبر فقط عن رأى أصاحبها