According to the latest data, the number of Syrian refugees in Turkey has reached 3 million 652 thousand 813. 750 thousand of them were born in Turkey. Let’s take a look at the reasons why the fertility rates are so high despite the poor living standards.
It would not be wrong to say that the older the history of the world, the older the history of the wars on the world. started in 2011 Syrian Civil WarWhile ravaging Syria, it left millions of asylum seekers and refugees behind. They worked in the countries they went to, got married and tried to establish a family for themselves.
The number of people coming from the Turkey-Syria border exceeds 3 million in current data. Syrian refugees They did a similar thing in Turkey. Some of them made a life for themselves in the camps, some of them dispersed all over Turkey and tried to establish a new life for themselves.
Little children are the biggest witnesses of wars!
Why are these wars being waged, which left behind orphaned children without a mother or father? power, money, missionary Although different answers are given, the answer to the question “If there is war, why do these children continue to be born in a war environment” is not that simple! Not only in the war environment, refugees continue to have children despite their poor socio-economic status and living standards in the places they go. So how does the science of psychology explain this situation?
Sigmund Freud, a neurologist and also considered the founder of psychoanalysis with his studies on psychoanalysis, says that human beings have two basic motives: Eros and Thanatos. Namely, sexuality and aggression.
According to him, these two motives are intertwined and work together. Let’s dwell a little more on what these are:
Named after the Greek god of love, sex and lust eros, According to Freud; It is the sexual instinct that provides love, love, reproduction and the continuation of the species. Freud, his Thanatos explains it as follows: It is the opposite of Eros and all destructive desires It is related to this impulse. That is, it is the desire to try to die and try to return to the state before it existed. With this impulse, we can explain the harm that we are trying to inflict on ourselves, consciously or unconsciously.
Based on this theory, we can make the following comments: In war environments and immediately after wars, people act with their most primitive motives, which are aggression and sexuality. Therefore, in these environments uncontrolled sexual intercourse and, as a natural consequence, fertility rates rise.
As there are those who explain the higher reproduction of people fleeing the war with this theory of Freud. with different theories There are those who try to explain. According to these different theories, the possible reasons for the rapid increase in the population after the war are as follows:
1. The more children there are, the greater the chance of survival.
For this theory in evolutionary terms Let’s call it a theory. Think of it this way, you’re on the brink of war and the fittest survives. You don’t know how strong the person who will carry your genes, which is your inheritance, on earth after you is. That’s why the thought that the more children there are, the longer my genes will remain on the earth, may occur in your subconscious.
2. As Ibn Khaldun said, geography can be destiny here.
Wars today are mostly in the Middle East, that is, in general. in underdeveloped societies is being done. In a significant part of these societies, people’s means of boasting is their possessions, property and the number of sons in general. In particular, the demand for a large number of sons may increase the number of children. The reason is that, for example, a couple with 6 daughters continues to have children until they have a son.
Religion can be cited as another reason. If we go through the example of Syria, if this society is considered a religion. adopts Islam. In the religion of Islam Hz. “Marry and multiply, for I will be proud of your multitude on the Day of Judgment.” (Beyhakî, VII/81) The hadiths in this style can also be shown as one of the reasons for the high fertility seen in these societies.
In fact, this is not unique to those places. Looking at the statistics, families in eastern Turkey still have at least 8-10 children. Of course, there may be other dynamics behind this. For example, the livelihood in these regions is agriculture and animal husbandry and these jobs are mostly based on manpower. So children to be workers. may be born.
3. The feeling of relief after the war: Baby boom
II in 1946. After the end of World War II, when there was a rapid population increase all over the world, scientists used this period. ‘baby boom’ they called it and wanted to investigate why. They found that the reasons could be: soldiers wanted to reproduce after returning from the war, large families were desired as the economy started to improve, the population that was declining by the war and large families were wanted to be replaced, the governments’ policies to increase the population during this period.
Along with these reasons, another reason is the post-war It was a sense of relief. Therefore, the fact that they survived the harsh conditions of the war and came to Turkey, which is a relatively safe country where there was no war, may have caused the Syrians to feel safe and relieved. This, of course, may have brought with it the phenomenon of trying to establish a new life here, trying to create a family and having many children. We can also see these data on numerical values. For example, while the birth rate in Syria was 2.55% at that time, in 2015, it was seen that the birth rate was between 3.2-4.3% in the researches conducted on Syrian refugees in Turkey in the same year.
4. Staying away from birth control methods
In some studies, Syrian refugees actually married/married at a very early age that is, child marriages (25%) are very common. Another of the research results is that these individuals actually birth control methods that they don’t know enough about it. According to the data obtained from the conversations with these individuals, the rationale behind early marriages is to provide a relatively safe and comfortable environment for the girl child.
In other words, families think that their girls will be comfortable and marry them at an early age. In this situation, these individuals who marry at an early age unable to complete their education, may be causing her to struggle with economic difficulties, not knowing enough about birth control methods and having many children at an early age.
Based on all these, we can say that there is no single mechanism behind the occurrence of this situation, and that there may be reasons other than those listed above.
Note: This article was not written to judge any group. The reasons for this existing situation have been tried to be found by making sociological and psychological analyzes.
Resources: Journal of Migration, Refugee Association, Psychology Today, National Library of Medicine