Souad Osseiran

Souad Osseiran is an anthropologist examining migration and refugee issues in Turkey with a focus on Syrian refugees and their migratory experiences. She recently completed her PhD in anthropology at Goldsmiths College, University of London. In her doctoral thesis, she explores Syrian refugees’ migration strategies to Europe and their experiences of waiting while in Istanbul. Osseiran holds an MSc in Social Anthropology from the University of Oxford and the BA from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.

Project: “Syrian Healthcare Professionals Integration in Turkey: Altering Formulations of Turkish Citizenship”

Around 3 million Syrian refugees are currently present in Turkey, and at least some will become Turkish citizens in the future. This project will explore Turkish government efforts to incorporate highly qualified Syrian refugee professionals with a view to its announced plan to grant citizenship to 300,000 professional Syrian refugees. In 2016 and 2017, the Turkish Ministry of Health began training Syrian healthcare professionals to integrate them at the national, provincial and local levels. Various INGOs, NGOs, and UN bodies are also involved in training Syrian healthcare professionals. These efforts aim at regularizing Syrian healthcare professionals’ labor in Turkey.

This project examines how Syrian health professionals are being incorporated into the Turkish public labor market. The research explores the effects of this integration and how it relates to the changing formulation of Turkish citizenship as a process. To answer these research questions, I will engage with Syrian healthcare professionals, Turkish bureaucrats in the respective ministries and key INGOs, NGOs, and UN bodies which were involved in these processes. Relying on interviews and participant observation, this research will offer Turkish and EU policymakers relevant insights into Turkey’s model and approach of incorporating professionals, its strengths and weakness, and the possibilities it holds to expand this model of incorporation beyond this sector.