Abstract

Associating Syrian immigrants with crime in Türkiye comes out as a significant problem. The perception of associating Syrian immigrants with crime by public officials working in Kilis, is analysed in this study. Kilis has 75,59% rate that is to say the densest population of immigrants under temporary protection compared to local population according to December, 2021 data of Ministry of Interior Immigration Authority. In this respect, a sample group was selected among expert staff from Kilis Provincial Security Directorate, Provincial Gendarmerie Directorate, Forensic Medicine, Supervised Liberty Directorate, Provincial Immigration Directorate and Provincial Directorate of Family and Social Policies (ŞÖNİM). Interviews were made with 18 personnel from the aforementioned institutions working in different duties and positions. Interview technique was utilized in the research as data collection tool. Semi-structured interview questions, which is a qualitative data collection technique, were benefitted in the interviews. It is determined as a result of the research that the perception that Syrians are related to crime is not only developed by local people but also public officials other than Police and gendarmerie law enforcement officers being in close relationship with Syrians due to occupational purposes. Police and gendarmerie law enforcement officers can directly access to statistics associated with crimes. In other words, they have direct information on Syrian immigrants and crime data. This prevents staff’s developing a misperception. In this sense, it is required that particularly public officers shall attend in-service training including the crime data acquired.