The ingredients of escaping war : how class influences the migration of Syrians to the Netherlands

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THE INGREDIENTS OF

ESCAPING WAR

H

OW CLASS INFLUENCES THE MIGRATION OF

S

YRIANS TO THE

N

ETHERLANDS

Banksy – “We are not all on the same boat” Banksy – “Son of a migrant from Syria,”

A

FRAMIA

S

HASHAN

10770399

U

NIVERSITY OF

A

MSTERDAM

S

UPERVISOR

:

H

EIN DE

H

AAS

S

ECOND READER

:

S

IMONA

V

EZZOLI

A

UGUST

2016

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Abstract

The primary purpose of this study is to explore the mobility of Syrians that have fled the Syrian Civil War since 2011. It focusses on the role of class in the migration trajectory and how Syrians become aware of the Netherlands as a destination country. Class is measured by the economic, social and cultural capitals that one possess and how these enable the mobility to the Netherlands.

This study was conducted in the Netherlands in 2016. The research approach has been qualitative and it is interpretative in nature. Data for this study were collected through twelve in-depth interviews using a life history method. Both formal and informal networks were used as a strategy for participant recruitment, and in addition a purposive sample was used.

This study shows that class affect the mobility and immobility of migration, because Syrians that migrated to the Netherlands were capable to mobilize some level of social, economic and cultural capital, and knew how to make use of them. The different forms of capital, however, are unevenly distributed, interlinked, and one form of capital can be converted into another form. Through informal education, many became aware of the Netherlands as a possible country of destination, because of its safety, asylum procedures, number of arrivals and possibilities regarding education and labour. Though, in some cases the Netherlands was not an initial destination, but it emerged through the journey.

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1. Introduction

Numerous studies have attempted to explain why people migrate from one place to another (Castles, 2003; Lee, 1966; Massey, 1998; Massey, 2015a; Massey, 2015b). These studies have mainly focused on theories and motivations of migration like for instance material improvement, risk management and symbolic gratification (Massey, 2015b). Gender, race, nationality, age and religion of people that migrate are often topics of research. We have to ask why do some people migrate to other

destinations? And why do certain people stay put while others migrate to Europe? Migration is not only about theories and motivations, but also about mobility, immobility and the hierarchy of destination that people can reach (Van Hear, 2014). Class and the availability of capital, at ones disposal, strongly shapes the motivation for migration (Clark & Gertler, 1983; Erel, 2010; Flores-Yeffal, 2015; Lamba & Krahn; Massey, 2010; de Haas, 2014; van Hear, 2014). Furthermore, time-space compression refers to the various ways in which people have vanquished time-space, enabling to cross distances faster and to exchange information and goods more efficiently (Ward, 2010).

Hyndman argues, “those with money can take advantage of time-space compression. Those who are uprooted from their homes and forced to flee their country with few resources experience migration in a very different way” (2000: 37). The destination that one can reach is based on the resources that one can call upon. Migration policies, for instance the European countries, have become more stringent, the important factors that determine people to reach them have increasingly become the financial cost and connections, through both official and unofficial channels which is limited to better resourced migrants (Van Hear, 2014). Moreover, Van Hear (2014) states that people with limited financial resources but enough cultural and social capital might get as far as people with sufficient financial resources but few social connections as one form of capital (economic, social and cultural) can be converted into another.

Although a number of studies have focussed on class and migration, little research has been conducted to test this. Hence, the migration of Syrians provides a timely opportunity to test the hypothesis. Since the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War, millions of Syrians have fled the country seeking safety in other countries. The Syrian Civil War started in March 2011 because citizens rebelled against the regime of president Bashar al-Assad. Since then, various militia and terrorist organizations like the Islamic State (IS) are not only targeting each other, but also innocent Syrian citizens. Violent events like these produce a stream of emigration of Syrians due to the fears of their well-being. They feel at risk and move to escape it, most of the times to the nearest and most accessible safe haven (Massey, 2015). At the moment, there are 13.5 million registered Syrians

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Figure 1 UNHRC. (2 June 2016). Registered Syrian Refugees Regional. Retrieved from: http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php

living in Syria of which approximately 7.6 million have been internally displaced. Nearly five million people have fled the country, but the vast majority remains in neighbouring countries like Lebanon and Turkey; 1.05 million in Lebanon and 2.7 million in Turkey according to figure 1. This makes the conflict one of the world’s largest refugee crisis in nearly 25 years (UNHCR, 2016a).

On 23th of February 2016 I have visited the homes of two Syrian Sunni families in Beirut to experience their living conditions in Lebanon. While being exposed to several situations during my internship at Caritas Lebanon Migrants Center, these home visits made the biggest impression on me during my stay in Lebanon. During the ride to one of the suburbs and without knowing what was awaiting me, my colleague told me that the mother of the first family was somewhat shy and ashamed of their current living condition. Upon arrival, I saw children playing outside while waiting for their school bus. One of the boys who noticed us, turned out to be the son and escorted us to their house. We learned that their house was on the first floor in a lentils factory. The family consisted of a father, mother and seven children. In the factory, they have a room which was transformed into a living room, two adjoining small bedrooms in which they sleep together on matrasses, a kitchen to be shared with the factory staff and a small bathroom which is also located in there. The rooms lack heating, air-conditioning, lighting and the living areas are somewhat dark as the living room has only one single glazed window. Because the family lives in a lentil factory, they suffer from mice and cockroaches in the summer. Moreover, the factory staff can enter the living area during working hours because of the shared kitchen. Therefore, the mother wears her hijab

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6 constantly and would not let her ten-year-old daughter leave her side. In exchange for this

accommodation, the father has to work in the factory and, in addition, he earns $300 per month in order to support his family. Even with this job, the family can barely make ends meet every month. While leaving the building with sadness, we were not aware of the fact that the next home visit would only reinforce this feeling. Next to the lentils factory lived the married daughter of the Syrian family, together with her husband. This building was a white single story building with two doors at the front. When she opened the left door, we saw only a living room. To get to the right side of the building, we had to go outside the living room. She opened the right door and we stepped into a bedroom containing only a double bed and a narrow bathroom next to it. At first I thought it looked decent, but then the daughter stressed that she felt unsafe and scared at night, due to the large electrical transformer box attached to their bedroom. Despite the living conditions, mother and daughter thanked God for safety and a roof above their head.

Both families moved to Lebanon due to the increased dangers in Aleppo while they hope to return home in the very near future. The relatively short distance to Syria and the similar language and culture made it attractive for the family to move to Lebanon, while at the same time they

mentioned that they did not possess the resources to migrate to a more prosperous and safe country in Europe. “At least I had the money to reach the Netherlands” is what a 45-year-old Syrian architect once explained to me. Like this man, numerous Syrians have fled to the Netherlands. Since the outbreak of the Syrian war, the number of Syrians that applied for asylum in Europe doubled every year and it continues to increase. Figure 2 shows that approximately one million Syrians have applied for asylum in Europe between April 2011 and April 2016. Still, it remains low if you compare it to Syria’s neighbouring countries. This number is around 20% of the people who have fled Syria. In the past 5 years, 30.698 Syrians have applied for asylum in the Netherlands according to figure 3 (UNHCR, 2016b). This left me with the question how one million Syrians find the possibility to migrate to North-Western Europe, specifically the Netherlands, and how one’s resources played a role in this.

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Figure 3 UNHCR. (March 2016). Europe: Syrian Asylum Applications. Retrieved from http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/asylum.php Figure 2. UNHCR. (March 2016). Evolution of Asylum Applications.

Retrieved from: http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/asylum.php

Therefore, this master’s thesis addresses the mobility of Syrians that have fled the Syrian Civil War since 2011. Specifically, it looks at how Syrians become aware of the Netherlands as a destination country and how class plays a role in their migration trajectory. In this study, class is measured by the economic, social and cultural capital that Syrians possess and how these enable the mobility to the Netherlands. It will focus on the role of class before the Syrian Civil War, during the war and especially during the migration trajectory to the Netherlands. The following research question is central to this study: “What role does class, in its various forms of capital, play in the current migration of Syrians to the Netherlands?

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2. Theoretical framework

The aim of the study is to find out which role class plays in the migration trajectories of the current migration of Syrians to the Netherlands. One’s class position influences the initial conditions of someone’s departure from Syria, but also subsequent moves and decisions. In this chapter, the theoretical framework of this study will therefore be discussed. Firstly, the focus will be on the classical sociologists Karl Marx’ and Max Weber’s definition of class. Furthermore, class and its various forms of capital will be highlighted, using Bourdieu and van Hear’s point of view. Moreover, one’s migration motivations will be discussed where forced migration and one’s aspirations and capabilities will be addressed.

2.1 Karl Marx’ and Max Weber’s definition of class

Social class, or class, is according to Oxford Dictionaries “a division of society based on social and economic status” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016). However, there has not been one definition of class and its meaning has varied over time. Class has been an essential object of analysis for sociologists and, therefore, will be focused on in this paragraph.

Karl Marx assumes that class is determined by someone’s relationship to the means of production. Marx states that there is a “complicated arrangement of society into various orders, a manifold gradation of social rank” (Marx & Engels, 2015: 2). He compares it to ancient Rome when there were patricians and plebeians, knights and slaves, and in the Middle Ages with its feudal lords and vassals, guild-masters and journeymen. Class is one’s relationship to the means of production according to Marx. In all ages and classes, Marx sees subordinate gradation and still sees the

contradiction in modern society, settled in new classes in places of the old. He describes the modern society as the society of the bourgeoisie, who only simplified the class antagonisms. The society gradually split up into two great classes; the proletariat and bourgeois. The proletariat, the modern working class, “live only so long as they find work, and who find work only so long as their labour increases capital” (Marx & Engels, 2015: 11). The bourgeoisie (the capitalists) own the means of production and exploit the proletariat for labour power. They accumulate profit for themselves and increase their capital. The workers are not only beholden to the bourgeoisie, but they are also enslaved by the machines and enslaved by the individual bourgeois manufacturer himself. Marx stresses that the proletariat gradually will become conscious of their potential and will achieve liberation by uniting and overthrowing the bourgeoisie (Marx & Engels, 2015).

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9 Max Weber agreed with certain thoughts of Karl Marx. However, Weber added power and prestige to the economic determination. He emphasized the interacting bases of property, power and prestige, and its hierarchies. Weber created a three-component theory of stratification, where three dimensions interact and interplay and where each dimension has its own stratification:

° Class: the economic dimension which is represented by one’s income and the possession of goods and services.

° Status: the social dimension which represents one’s prestige and honour. ° Party: the political dimension which represents one’s power.

Class is only an aspect of the social structure whereas power is considered the main element in Weber’s model. Power is the chance of a group to realise its own interests in a communal action, even if there is some resistance of people participating in the action as power gives social honour. However, economic power is not a recognized basis of social honour, neither is power perceived as the only basis of social honour. Power and social honour are guaranteed by the legal order, but it is not the most important source of power. It is merely a factor that increases the chance to hold social honour or power, although it cannot always secure them (Pyakuryal, 2001).

Max Weber, suggests to only speak about classes when groups of people have mutual economic interests based on their specific position on the labour and goods market. Moreover, the group has the same chance for a supply of goods, external living conditions and personal life experiences. Like Marx, Weber stresses the unequal distribution of economic power as well as the unequal distribution of opportunity. However, Weber introduced an additional structural category: the “status group”. Status groups are based on the consumption patterns and less on their place in the market or in the process of production. Status groups are communities which are held together by notions of proper lifestyles and by the honour and social esteem accorded to them by others. Related to this are expectations of restrictions on social intercourse with those who do not belong to the circle. According to Weber, a status group can exist only when others accord its members prestige or degrading, which separates them from the rest of social actors and creates the social distance between “us” and “them” (Stapley, 2010).

2.2 Class – social, economic and cultural capital

The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu used Max Weber’s three-component theory of stratification for his theories. However, Bourdieu uses ‘field’ as a structured system of social positions by

individuals or institutions. Between these positions, there is a system of forces which exists, and is structured internally regarding power relations. They stand in relationship of domination,

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10 subordination or equivalence to each other as a result of the access they afford to the goods of resources: capital. One’s position on the social ladder is determined by three kinds of capitals:

° Social capital: According to Bourdieu: “The aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to the possession of a durable network” (1986: 248). Thus, social capital is one’s power linked to the possession of a durable network of people who are committed to each other and feel grateful to: for example, relatives, friends and acquaintances. Its volume depends on the amount of capital available to someone. Furthermore, social capital requires certain investments and maintenance in the form of time, attention, gifts and therefore also economic capital.

° Economic capital: This type of capital is the possession of one’s financial resources and movable and immovable assets. Economic capital is the root of all other types of capital according to Bourdieu (1989).

° Cultural capital: The collection of legitimate knowledge of one kind or another, skills, education and other competencies (van Hear, ibid.). Cultural capital however appears in three states. The first one is the embodied state which represents the sustainable disposition of the person, literacy, cultural knowledge and competencies that are incorporated and take a long time to build-up, like for instance learning a language or learning to play a music instrument. It relates to Bourdieu’s concept habitus, which is an integral part of an individual and is not directly transmittable. According to Bourdieu, the habitus refers to the embodied knowledge, the way individuals learn to generate improvisations, which we have learned from practical experiences. It is acquired through repetition, like a habit. Bourdieu defines social groups on the basis of habitus, as individuals who occupy similar positions in the social structure will have the same habitus (Calhoun et al., 2012). The second state of cultural capital is the institutionalized state and refers to the one’s formal education: one’s diploma’s and academic titles. The last one, objectified state, consists of tangible materials such as documents, painting and instruments and is transferable (Erel, 2010).

The different forms of capital however, are unevenly distributed according to Bourdieu and Wacquant (1992): one can hold a lot of economic capital and little cultural capital while another person can hold little economic capital but a lot of cultural capital (van Hear, 2014). One’s amount of power within a field depends on one’s position within it, combined with the amount of capital that one possesses. The possession of capital give access to specific profits in the field, but also in their relation to other positions (Jenkins, 2002). “A capital does not exist and function except in relation to a field” (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992: 101).

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11 However, different forms of capital are interlinked and can be convertible into other forms of capital, according to Bourdieu (Erel, 2010). The convertibility is the essence of what makes something a capital. Bourdieu distinguishes two senses in which capital can be converted from a certain form to another. The first one is intergenerational reproduction of capital. For instance, when wealthy parents make sure their children go to good universities, which are usually private universities. By doing this, the parents convert money into cultural capital and can be passed on and likely

reconverted into economic capital. The second sense is a more immediate form of conversion. For example, an athlete with success and capital which is specific to his or her sporting field can convert this into money by opening businesses, where his or her status helps to attract clients (Ritzer, 2003).

Regarding the Syrians, it must be noted that their mobility depends on one’s access to social, economic and cultural resources and at the meso-level, migration-facilitating-structures like migrant networks (de Haas, 2014). Hence, migration is about who can mobilize some level of resources and how migrants make use of them. According to Castles et al. (2014), migrants try to overcome structural constrains like immigration restrictions, social exclusion and social insecurity very actively and creatively. They can use their network or can possess enough financial resources that enable them to migrate. Economic capital affects people’s capability and aspiration to migrate, while social capital can provide people information and the necessary help to migrate to the destination.

Moreover, through their social network they can also learn from the hardship and dangers associated with migration experience (Flores-Yeffal, 2015). Furthermore, Van Hear (2014) stresses that there is a certain kind or hierarchy in destinations that migrants can reach, based on their economic and network based resources that they can call upon. Bourdieu’s view on converting one form of capital into another can help to explain how one with little economic capital may be able to convert one’s social capital in order to be able to migrate. Since the migration policies of wealthy and prosperous countries have become more stringent, the important factors that determine people to reach them have increasingly become cost and connections, through both official channels and irregular routes, which is limited to better resourced migrants (van Hear, 2014). According to van Hear, international migration therefore requires the possession of economic, social cultural, and other types of capital in different combinations. For some destinations, it may be sufficient to have a certain amount of economic capital. In other cases, one also requires cultural and social capital. Van Hear argues that only people who possess certain volumes of capital in certain compositions or proportions, or those who are able to convert forms of capital into the required forms and compositions, can undertake international migration to more prosperous destinations (van Hear, 2014).

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2.3 Migration motivations

Migration is a collective action that arises out of social, economic and political change and it affects the whole society in both the country of origin and host country (Castles, de Haas & Miller, 2014). There are different factors and interactions which result in migration and influence its course. Migration theories can be grouped in two main categories, which provide different analyses on migration. First, there is the functionalist migration theory: this theory sees society as a system, a collection of interdependent parts, in which an inherent tendency toward equilibrium exists. Migration is seen as a positive phenomenon in which the interests of most people are served and contributing to greater equality within and between societies. The other theory, the historical-structural, emphasizes how social, economic, cultural and political structures force and direct individual’s behaviour in ways that usually do not lead to greater equilibrium. Economic and political power are unequally distributed, and cultural beliefs and social practices reproduce structural inequalities according to this theory (Castles, de Haas & Miller, 2014).

Human migration motivations are diverse, but can be categorised in five basic motivations according to Massey (2015). Firstly, people migrate to improve their material circumstances by making a cost-benefit analysis. Secondly, humans are also motivated by a desire to protect

themselves against risk and minimize losses. Moreover, people also move to gain status, prestige and esteem: symbolic gratification. Fourthly, social connections motivate human beings for the exchange of emotional resources and the act to achieve instrumental ends. The last motivation is the desire to escape a threat to emotional or physical well-being like civil violence, war, and natural disasters (Massey, 2015).

2.4 Distress migration

When focussing on migration motivations, one should consider the difference between material improvement, risk management, symbolic gratification and social connection on the one hand and threat evasion on the other. The impact of forced migration can be a life-changing experience during and after the process. Forced migrants often have to abandon their homes and other valuable properties in order to flee from threats. Most of the time they end up in refugee camps and experience other living conditions than their pre-migration situation (Ruiz and Vargas-Silva, 2013). There are different kinds of forced migrants. First, there are people that are forced to leave their country due to individual persecution on specific grounds. But there are also internally displaced persons that flee their homes, but do not cross an international border. Then there are forced migrants that are difficult to quantify due to development projects or environmental reasons. The

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13 final form is trafficking of people for purposes of exploitation (Castles, 2003). The experience can be positive or negative to forced migrants, depending on the specific characteristics of the person, the nature of the conflict and the international community’s interventions. At the same time, the people who leave could be different from those people that stay put due to the characteristics that make people more or less capable (Ruiz and Vargas-Silva, 2013).

According to de Haas (2014), all forms of migration can be conceptualised as a function of migration ‘capabilities’ and migration ‘aspirations’. Migration aspirations are “a function of people’s general life aspirations and perceived spatial opportunity structures” (de Haas, 2014: 23). They depend on individual’s life preferences, perceptions about life elsewhere and the opportunities somewhere else. Culture, education, personal disposition, identification information and images affect someone’s migration aspirations (de Haas, 2014: 24). ‘Instrumental aspirations’ refer to migration as a ‘functional’ mean to achieve a goal like higher incomes or protection from

persecution. ‘Intrinsic aspirations’ are the values that people attach to the experience of migration itself, such as the joy from discovering new societies. Migration capabilities are “contingent on positive and negative liberties” (de Haas, 2014: 23). Positive liberty refers to being able to take control of one’s life and realising one’s fundamental purpose. Negative liberty is the shortage of barriers, obstacles or constraints (Berlin, 1969). Human mobility is the capability (freedom) of people to choose where to live. Firstly, human mobility is related to capabilities because social, economic and human (cultural) resources are important for migratory agency. Agency is the real ability of an individual or a social group to make choices independently and to impose these choices on the world and to change the structure that shape people’s opportunities or freedoms (de Haas, 2014). The lack of resources for instance, can disable someone to migrate. Secondly, individuals who do not have the realistic choice to stay, for example because of war, are deprived from the capability to stay.

However, this feeling can further fuel the migration aspirations (Ibid: 26). According to de Haas (2014), people need certain capabilities in the form of economic, social and cultural resources in order to be able to flee.

De Haas (2014) created a table (table 1) to operationalise the conditions and context of migration and to develop a typology of four theoretically informed contextual migration categories. For instance, in ‘distress migration’, people have a relatively high level of positive liberties but relatively low negative liberties.

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14 De Haas (2014) also developed another table (table 2) in which he designed four categories based on aspirations and capabilities for individual mobility. For example, refugees are categorized as

‘voluntary immobility’ or ‘involuntary mobility’ because they have relatively low migration

aspirations but relatively high migration capabilities. According to de Haas, the migration of refugees is mainly a response to distress in one’s country rather than a positive response to opportunities elsewhere. The opportunities will play a role in migration decisions if the decision to leave has been made, yet they cannot be seen as the primary reason to migrate (de Haas, 2014)

Altogether, the concept of class has been made measurable by using Bourdieu’s understanding of class and the different forms of capital. Just like Bourdieu’s theory, van Hear’s theory has also been of great importance while focusing on Syrians and their use of the social network of friends and relatives, their possession of financial means and their cultural capital during their migration trajectory. It is of interest to test how the different forms of capital are interlinked and can be converted into the required forms of capital that mobilizes international migration. Moreover, de

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15 Haas’ theory is of interest to find out the aspirations and capabilities that enabled migration.

According to de Haas’ categorisation of migration, Syrians that migrated to the Netherlands could be categorized as distress migration due to their life-threatening conditions in which they had to face barriers, obstacles and constraint, but at the same time possessed the resources to move. Therefore, the following sub-questions have been formulated through the literature discussed above:

• “How does economic capital play a role in the migratory process of Syrians?” • “How do Syrians make use of their social capital in the migratory process?” • “How does cultural capital play a role in the migratory process of Syrians?”

• “How do Syrians become aware of the Netherlands as a possible country of destination?”

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3. Method and approach

The methodology that is used to conduct this master’s thesis will be discussed in this chapter. The focus is not only on the research sample, but also on the data collection and the way the data has been analysed. The final paragraph will close with the ethical aspects and limitations of this study.

3.1 Research method and methodology

The aim of the study was to find out what role class plays in the current migration of Syrians to the Netherlands. The epistemological position was constructivist which means that phenomena occurring in social reality are constructions, and they can only be assessed by understanding the meaning of social action and trying to interpret these meanings (Bryman, 2012). My ontological position was interpretative. To derive information, I had to be open-minded, curious and empathic, flexible and able to listen to the participants telling their own stories. The research approach has been qualitative as it gave an in-depth understanding of the research issues that embraced the Syrian’s perspective and their context (Hennink et al., 2011). However, understanding can be viewed from two different perspectives. The first perspective is understanding where a researchers uses his/her own frame of reference on the issues. The second perspective is Verstehen where the researchers uses the study population’s frame of reference by identifying their perspectives on the research issues. The concept of Verstehen was used by Max Weber and means “to study people’s lived experiences which occur in a specific historical and social context” (Snape and Spencer, 2008: 7). This latter approach allowed me to identify issues from the perspective of the Syrians, in their own context and describing this using their own words and concepts. Moreover, the qualitative research approach was useful to understand complex topics like the Syrian war or exploring recent matters such as the increasing number of asylum applications in the Netherlands. The research method was an in-depth interview to understand the participant’s viewpoint as it gave the possibility to identify issues from their perspective. Besides, the process of rapport building, which is distinctive in qualitative research methods, contributed to a comfortable atmosphere for disclosure. To explain and understand issues it was suitable to ask ‘why’ questions, and ‘how’ questions to describe processes or behaviour (Hennik, et al. 2011).

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3.2 Operationalization

Class is the key concept that has been operationalized in conducting this study. As described in the theoretical framework, class is a very broad concept which can be operationalized in various ways. However, Bourdieu’s theory of class as a combination of economic, social and cultural (human) capital were used to operationalize class in this study. This can be viewed in table 4.

Table 4. Operationalization of class

Class indicator Operationalization

Social capital ° Relationship with family, friends and transnational network (before and during war)

° Relationship with others (e.g. neighbours, acquaintances) ° Use and importance of social network during migration ° Obstacles regarding social network during migration

° Assessment of whether the investment made in social capital paid off for migration

Economic capital ° Financial situation before & during war ° Financial situation – parental household ° Receiving remittances

° Property

° Use and importance of financial means during migration ° Obstacles regarding financial means during migration Cultural capital ° Education & profession of respondent

° Parent’s education & profession / thoughts on education ° Skills & hobbies

° Religion

° Information about migration route & the Netherlands ° Use and importance of cultural capital during migration ° Obstacles regarding cultural capital during migration

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3.3 Data collection

The data in this study has been collected through in-depth interviews as it gave the opportunity to collect data while discussing specific topics in depth. A semi-structured interview guide was used to prompt the data collection. In contrast to a structured interview, the semi-structured interview gave the opportunity the go deeper into topics and the possibility to differ from the prepared interview questions. The method to interview the respondent was a life history method. This allowed the respondents to reflect on life in Syria before and during the war, as well as the migration route to the Netherlands. It explores a person’s micro-historical experiences within a macro-historical framework (AtlasTi, n.d.). Respondents also had the choice to decide what to tell and what to omit. A life history approach gave the respondents the freedom to tell their personal stories and, therefore, various prepared question were already answered without specifically asking the respondents. The

interviews were conducted individually most of the time, but during three interviews there was also a friend present. The interview usually took forty-five minutes to one and a half hour. The duration varied as some respondents were more comprehensive in their stories than others. In some cases I have visited the respondents in their residence. In other cases, I have met de respondents in a public space, usually a café. I have often opted for a café, as I did not want the interview to feel as a formal event, but rather as a chat while enjoying a coffee (that I treated). My opinion and experience is that in this way the respondents took a more relaxed attitude and it created a comfortable atmosphere.

The interview guide had been prepared on the basis of Bourdieu’s concept of capital and its forms. Before starting the interview, I introduced myself, explained the purpose of the thesis and interview, and asked the respondent for permission to make any audio recordings of the interview in order to be able to transcribe the interview. Most respondents reacted positively on the audio recordings. Others, who wanted to know more about its purpose, I tried to explain that it would merely be used for research purposes and would be deleted after completing the study.

Subsequently they would usually agree on it. It is understandable that recording an interview would cause any suspicion, especially due to their vulnerability. At the beginning of the interview, I asked general question about someone’s background to gain some context about the respondent and to start building rapport. Thereafter, I started asking opening questions to continue building rapport so the respondent would be comfortable enough to answer the key questions. Because I was taking a life history approach, I asked about, for instance, the respondent’s parental family composition, the parent’s education and occupation, the relationship with the parents and siblings and their financial situation. Questions about the respondent’s early life in Syria (before the Syrian war) followed the questions about the parental family. After this point, I noticed that the respondents were

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19 respondents already referred to the Syrian war while they were talking about their (early) life before the war. Thereafter, I would ask about the decisions to leave Syria, where I asked about, for example, the respondent’s aim, the possibilities to stay or leave, the obstacles, the means to leave the country and the assistance of one’s social network. In most cases, the respondent would refer to the next topic, which was the refugee route. In the refugee route part, I usually would let the respondent speak while I was mostly listening to the story. Most questions on the topic would be answered in this way, however, I would still ask the questions that focused on the forms of capital. This followed by questions about the arrival in the Netherlands. I finished the interview by including closing questions about the future in the Netherlands, so I would be able to slowly reduce the established rapport and to make clear that the interview had come to an end. On a final note, I must stress that even though I would let the respondents tell the stories and I would be listening most of the time, I would not forget to ask the important questions that focussed on the three forms of capital. There was a certain space to deviate from the prepared questions, but the key questions still had to be answered.

3.4 Research population and sample frame

The unit of analysis of this study have been asylum seekers and refugees that have migrated to the Netherlands between March 2011 and 2016. Someone is considered a refugee if the person fears persecution in the country of origin because of the person’s race, religion, nationality, political affiliation or because the person belongs to a particular social group (Immigratie- en

Naturalisatiedienst, 2015). To prove that someone is a refugee, one first has to go through an asylum procedure in the Netherlands. To make the unit of analysis more specific, the focus would therefore be on refugees that have already applied for asylum (seeking protection) in the past five years; either going through an asylum procedure at the moment of or have gone through it before. The unit of observation consisted of Syrians that have migrated to the Netherlands between 2011 and 2016. Syrians who had arrived before 2011 were excluded from the study population as they had arrived before the Syrian war broke out. The choice of this unit of observation was taken due to the increased number of asylum applications in Europe in the mentioned period of time. The largest group of people applying for asylum were Syrians fleeing the war in Syria. Most of the asylum applications in the European Union were in the Northwestern European countries like Germany, Sweden, Austria and the Netherlands (UNHCR, 2016b). There has been focussed on the individual motivations of Syrians on a micro level perspective, since every Syrian has his/her own reasons and possesses certain kinds of capital, which differ from everyone. I had aimed for substantive

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20 representation by reaching Syrians with different experiences, interests and opinions. Moreover, I tried to find Syrians from different genders, social classes, religions and educational levels.

Both formal and informal networks were used as a strategy for participant recruitment, and in addition a purposive sample was used. I have been to an Asylum Seeker Centre (AZC,

asielzoekerscentrum in Dutch) in order to get in touch with Syrians. The AZC organizes a coffee morning where it is open to everyone to come and have a coffee with refugees on Thursdays. Because I went with an insider to the coffee morning, it was easier to get in touch with Syrians. However, I had to visit the coffee morning three times in order to get familiar and gain their trust. Some would also refer to other respondents. The experience was that they often were open for an interview if they were able to speak the English or Dutch language. Since I am of Assyrian (Syriac Orthodox denomination), it was easier to recruit respondents through informal networks. Through family members I got in touch with several Syrians. Moreover, social media was also used to get in touch with Syrians. I used my own Facebook page to recruit respondents through my personal network. Furthermore, I used Facebook pages like ‘Refugee Start Force – Central (Amsterdam), ‘Wat is er nodig voor vluchtelingenopvang div lokaties Amsterdam?’ and ‘Refugee Research Network’ to recruit Syrians that are living in the Netherlands. This ensured that the sample frame would not be too homogeneous and it created some room for diversity. However, I also experienced certain difficulties while recruiting women, as they were less accessible than men. In the AZC I only met two Syrian women, but those were not able to speak the English or Dutch language and referred to their husband to conduct the interview. Also, I tried several times to get in touch with Syrian women through Facebook on my own Facebook page and the previously mentioned ones, but only men responded to this request. Through informal networks I got in touch with two Syrian women. One was able to speak Dutch, as she was living in the Netherlands for almost two years. The other woman could speak Syriac (a dialect of Aramaic), which is my native language besides Dutch. Apart from the people that have been interviewed, there were also several Syrians whom I have asked to conduct the interview with, but refused this request, as they did not trust it completely. This is

understandable due to their war experiences in Syria and the possible traumas they have suffered from.

Table 3 shows a summary of the characteristics of the respondents of this study. The respondents consisted of 12 Syrians, of which 10 of them were male and two of them were female. The age of the respondents varied from 19 until 45 years, but the majority of the respondents were younger than 25 years old. The majority identified themselves as a Syriac Orthodox or Sunni Islam, followed by one Catholic and one Druze. Only one respondent stated that he identified himself as an atheist. Most of the respondents came from the cities Damascus and Al-Qamishli. Only one came

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21 from Homs and another one from Aleppo. Nine out of 12 respondents received a Dutch temporary residence permit for five years. This temporary permit, however, can still be withdrawn if Syria is declared safe within those five years. After those five years, they can apply for naturalization. While conducting the research, three had not received their residence permit yet. Yet, after gathering the data, the researcher found out that another two respondents received their residence permit. Only one respondent is still in a procedure and awaiting his permission to stay. All 12 respondents have been to school while 7 also studied at the university. However, only one of them had graduated from university and worked as an architect. Others who had studied at the university could not complete their studies due to the Syrian war. Four out of 12 respondents only finished their baccalaureate (final exams of the twelfth grade) and did not start their university studies since 3 of the 4

respondents migrated to the Netherlands after completing their baccalaureate. The other chose to work after his baccalaureate. Only one studied until ninth grade, because the respondent did not prefer to study and wished to work instead. I learned that studying until ninth grade is free and obligatory. Finally, the respondents used different means to cross the European border. 8 out of 12 respondents used a boat to cross the Mediterranean. In order to do this, those 8 respondents were assisted by a smuggler. The remaining four respondents came to the Netherlands by airplane, of which 3 of them came through family reunification. Only one of the individuals travelled, by airplane, using a Business Schengen Visa as his travel document. Yet, these are only the transportations to cross the border in order to arrive in a European country. During the migration trajectories other types of transportations were also used, while various respondents even walked for days.

Table 3. Summary of the respondent's characteristics

Characteristics Categories Number of respondents (N=12) Gender Male Female 10 2 Age < 21 21 – 30 31 – 40 41 – 50 3 7 1 1

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3.5 Data analysis

The data analysis is focussed on the role of social, economic and cultural capital in the migration trajectory of the Syrians. The twelve interviews were recorded with the consent of the respondent. This enabled me to transcribe the interview and to stay close to the respondent’s words while analysing the data. However, I should also mention that recording the interview could have caused any reluctance in sharing information. They could be more careful about sharing information that could cause them any harm. For instance, a few respondents confessed to me that they would tell the story that they have told the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service. It is unclear to me what this exactly means for the reliability of the stories, and if any bias is a result of being recorded or being questioned.

The interviews have all been transcribed after the interviews without mentioning any names. To interpret the interviews I used the qualitative data analysis programme ATLAS.ti. In order to assure internal validity, I developed codes based on the theoretical framework. Codes are essentially topics that are discussed by respondents and are identified through reading data. Identifying codes allowed me to identify various issues that were raised in the data, and to understand the meanings attached to the issues by the respondents. Also, the codes were used as topical markers to index the entire data set in order to be able to locate every place in the data where a certain issue is discussed (Hennik, et al. 2011). Fragments, which are related to the same topic, are marked with the same code. I created codes like for instance: ‘education respondent’, ‘friends’, ‘financial situation’, ‘skills’, and ‘opinion about the Netherlands’. Next, I compared the fragments with the same topic on

Religion Sunni Muslim Syriac Orthodox Catholic Druze Atheist 4 5 1 1 1 City Damascus Al-Qamishli Aleppo Homs 5 5 1 1 Dutch residence permit Yes No 9 3

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23 similarities and differences and then grouped a few codes. Lastly, by constantly comparing I have analysed the consistency of the codes. Some relations between codes have been established based on the frequency in which concepts recur in the data. That includes seeking exceptions and analysing how these exceptions are a reason to doubt the findings.

3.6 Ethical issues and limitations

Before the study, but mainly during it, I have been constantly aware of the vulnerability of the respondents and possible effects. Despite the openness of the respondents, some ethical issues and limitations should be taken into consideration. Firstly, no names were used to write this thesis to assure the respondent’s anonymity. To maintain anonymity, recordings were deleted after

transcribing the interviews and identifying factors in the transcripts were removed. Moreover, topics that might trigger traumatic stress were avoided and I would not go deeper on political matters or sensitive subjects. Furthermore, I had asked for the respondent’s content to record the interview, but the thought of being recorded could have influenced the story of the respondent. Everyone gave the permission to make recordings, but I am aware of the fact that respondents would be more apprehensive in answering questions, because they could have been afraid that it could be used against them and their procedure. The respondents sometimes would mention to tell the same story like they had told the Immigration and Naturalisation Service officials, while the respondent could have experienced it differently. Lastly, findings need to be interpreted carefully and findings may not be completely generalizable as the sample was restricted to twelve respondents of which two were women.

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4. Life before and during the Syrian Civil War

In the first paragraph of this chapter, the focus will be on the respondent’s lives before the Syrian Civil War highlighting the religions, education and profession. In the second paragraph, the lives during the war will be discussed regarding the financial situation, profession, education and migration motivations of the respondents.

4.1 Life before the Syrian Civil War

Before describing the lives of Syrians before the Syrian Civil War, I should stress that the respondents may have portrayed a somewhat positive and rosy picture of their lives in Syria before the Syrian Civil War. I noticed while interviewing that respondents described their lives when they did not feel anxiety, unsafe or when they could make end meet every month by comparing their lives in war with their lives before. However, this does not mean that there were not any tensions or political and socio-economic problems before the war. The respondents hardly focussed on these problems as the times of war made them experience the extreme, making them long for the times before the war.

Before the Syrian Civil War or in their early lives, most of the respondents lived with their parents and siblings in Syria. The Syrians whom have been interviewed come from families with three or more children. They generally practice a certain religion, usually Sunni Islam or Christianity, as religion is an important part of the daily life and culture. In addition, respondents tent to identify themselves with their religious group or ethnicity like Arab, Druze, Assyrian and Armenian. Before the war, respondents stressed that religion was something that should be kept to yourself and it was common not to share it with others. However, neighbourhoods were segregated by religion and ethnicity, but Christians and Muslims could live well together according to a few respondents. For instance, respondents explained that before the war there were Christian and Muslims living next to each other, and you would not ask them what religion they were practicing. According to various respondents, Syria was a country with little religious tensions before the war. Most of the respondents were friends with people of different religions and ethnicities, although you see the Christians being mostly befriended with other Christians.

Most of the respondents that have been interviewed had a fairly modern lifestyle and dressed like people in ‘Western countries’. Most came from families whose parents are educated. Most of the fathers are highly educated and studied at the university. Some mothers studied at the university as well, but most of them have not continued studying after high school. Moreover, the siblings are

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25 usually also highly educated. The parent’s thoughts on studying are for all respondents the same. Education is generally seen as a prominent part in one’s life and should therefore be taken seriously. However, the parents of one respondent did not believe in studying, they only believed in working. Yet, all the respondents indicated that they had the freedom to study and were supported by their parents in their choices. No distinction was made between male or female; both son and daughter were motivated to study, because according to most parents, studying is the most important element in life.

“My father studied economy and worked in the municipality. My mother was a teacher in middle school. She studied and then became a teacher. I have two sisters; they are in the university. One studied economy and the other political sciences. We had to study, if you did not study over there you are nothing. We had to study. We only had one job, and that was studying. We did not have to work, only studying”.

“They told us study and work. You can do whatever you want, you can study whatever you want. They said it is your future and in the end if you do not study you lose and if you study you win, because you have a diploma. They pushed us to study”.

The parents’ outlook and influence motivated many respondents to study. From the interviews it became clear that studying until 9th_{grade is free and obligatory in Syria. The public universities only}

charge an affordable fee per year. People were, therefore, also motivated by the government to study and it means that every Syrian, regardless of his/her social class, is able to study. The majority of the respondents are highly educated. However, most of them were unable to finish their

university studies due to the war and its dangers. This will be explained more in chapter 4.2. Only one completed his university studies and had a university degree. Another one deliberately chose not to study in college, instead he chose to work as a hairdresser: “Honestly I didn’t like studying and I left. I started working in a barbershop and there I learned to cut hair”. Some completed their

baccalaureate and later migrated to the Netherlands. Everyone studied at a public school, which are state-run, except for one respondent; only he studied at a private university.

In all the families, the father is the breadwinner and responsible for providing for the family members. However, in some cases women were also working if they are having a university degree. Yet, most mothers were housewives for the major part of their lives, even if they were highly educated. Through the interviews it became clear that several parents worked for the government since they could receive a steadier salary by doing this. In most cases, siblings also worked in order to support the family financially. Now and then, some families would receive remittances as a support from their transnational network or they would receive gifts while visiting them. Some siblings

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26 emigrated to destinations, like Dubai and Lebanon, to support their family financially through

remittances. These families depended on these remittances because if they would not receive these remittances, they could not make ends meet every month. However, most respondents indicated that they had a relatively financial stable life. They could make ends meet every month, but that was partly due to the high purchasing power: “It was financially good, because my father was a

businessman. We were never short of money and we were always able to buy everything we needed”. The parent’s profession varied from e.g. professor, doctor, teacher, dentist, manager, police officer, exporter and dealer. Moreover, some of the respondents mentioned owning various properties, in most cases the property was owned by their parents, but sometimes also by a respondent, varying from cars and real-estate to land and companies. The respondents who were still studying in twelfth grade or university, worked alongside their studies, but the main focus and priority was their studies. If they worked, they often worked in the company of a family member or they did certain work as a hobby, for example as a tattoo artist. A few respondents had family and friends living outside Syria before the Syrian Civil War. Some relatives and friends emigrated decades before the war, but stayed in touch with their contacts in Syria. Sometimes they would spend their summer with their family and friends in Syria, other stayed in touch through phone calls and social media.

4.2 Life during the Syrian Civil War

The experiences of the respondents during the Syrian Civil War were very diverse since they come from very different cities and practising other religions. Some faced personal threats like bombs, shootings, menaces or held hostage. Generally, their lives changed dramatically during the war, if not at the very beginning of the uprising, then after one or two years. In order to imagine how these experiences were, I have added three stories in annex 2. In this chapter the focus will be on the daily lives during the war, where their financial situations, professions, network and education will be highlighted.

4.2.1 Financial situation and profession during the war

The financial situation of nearly every respondent’s household changed during the war. In the beginning of the war, most families were still able to make ends meet every month in Syria. This gradually changed. All respondents stressed that everything changed financially in every household, when the prices of the goods increased: “People did not buy meat anymore, because it was very expensive. We could not buy any vegetables, because there were not many. Even the rich could not live normally anymore”. Before the war, it was usual to have a rate of about 50 Syrian pounds to one dollar, but this changed since the start of the Syrian Civil War. The Syrian pound has deteriorated to

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27 250 Syrian pounds for one dollar. Besides, many roads were closed down impeding the trade with Syria and also with its neighbours. Sequentially, countless companies closed down and

unemployment increased. People started searching for other types of work as they were obligated to earn money to provide for their families.

“I tried to stay at home for one year. Maybe the war will finish or end or something yeah in the meantime I have to get a job in some way. I tried to do some business with clothes to sell clothes to some people. I tried to work as a small office that organizes events. And that was a very nice job. Till the last year I tried to work as a driver between Syria and Lebanon. That was the best thing I did in Syria”.

Some respondents would sell their assets like companies, farmland, cars and real-estate or would depend on their money on their savings account. Others depended on their families that were working abroad, who would send remittances. Those who had a well-paid job and could retain it during the war, would also experience purchasing power loss. Yet, it did not negatively influence the household’s circumstances. What certainly influenced every respondent’s household was the lack of regular electricity, water, phone connection and internet:

“We would not have water and electricity regularly. Some days we would have electricity and sometimes we would not have electricity for 3 or 4 days. And the water, we were not cut off from water. But in other places they did not have water for months. And if there was not any electricity, we could not get any water either. And gas as well, a bottle of gas was very expensive. We would cook on portable cooking stoves. We went hundred years back in time. They used to cook water on it, cook meals on it. We all became poor because of all of this”.

As a result of the lack of electricity and the increased dangers, people would go home before sunset and would not leave the house in the evening hours according to respondents. Especially women would not leave the house by themselves since a lot of kidnapping happened and abductors wanted ransom in return.

4.2.2 Social contacts during the war

Some respondents emphasized that during the war some people would develop closer relations with each other and on the other hand, others grew apart. In cities like Damascus, Aleppo and Homs many people had to choose a side and that would sometimes mean that people would not interfere with others according to respondent from these cities. These respondents mentioned that they trusted people less, fearing for their safety and that of their relatives and friends. A respondent explained

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28 that he was a Christian, living in a Muslim neighbourhood in Homs. He and his family moved to another village, but IS occupied this village in the summer of 2015. In August 2015 IS abducted his sisters and at least 200 other people. IS accused the Christians for collaborating with Al-Assad. Fortunately, his sister got released after several days, but the respondent emphasized that their religion was the cause of this danger. According to him, it was hard trusting people after this

incident. On the contrary, the respondents from Al-Qamishli pointed out that people connected and bonded more and grew more towards each other during the war. No distinction was made between for instance Muslim or Christian, people would help each other: “In my neighbourhood we helped each other with water and electricity. We would not think about being Christian or Muslim, we would help each other. My neighbour would give us water or electricity, and we would do the same in return”. Furthermore, respondents started getting afraid that something would happen to their family and friends. The respondents saw gradually more friends and relatives leaving the country and people would talk to each other about the possibilities to leave the country, to move to a safer destination. Their transnational network became more important, as their cities emptied gradually. They kept in touch with their transnational network through the mobile phone and internet.

4.2.3 Education during the war

During the war most respondents still tried to study and develop themselves. One respondent moved to Lebanon to finish her high school in safety, while her parents and brothers were still living in Syria. The other respondents studied in Syria, but as dangers and threats increased and the roads closed more often, people would go back to their hometown and stayed there with their family because they feared for their safety. “My friends studied in Aleppo and I studied Law in Hasakah. And when the roads closed we all went back to Qamishli. We all stayed there because of fear. So we could not do anything because there was no university. I only had one year left to finish my degree. So then we just went to the community center and enjoy our time there”. The respondents were unable to study from their houses, but they remained enrolled in the university. In Syria, young men (except for men being an only son) will be recruited for the army if they are not enrolled in any university or not affiliated with a militia. Men sometimes used their university study to stay safe. One 24-year-old man worked but feared for recruitment by the government’s military service. He therefore joined the ‘Sootoro’, a Syriac militia consisting in the Al-Hasakah Governate. With the Sootoro he guarded the neighbourhoods in Al-Qamishli and made sure he did not have to serve in the government’s army.

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4.2.4 Migration motivations

Respondents stressed that due to the increased dangers people started thinking about surviving and their future. The respondents tried to stay in their country despite the dangers they faced. They tried to find work and tried to study, because they had the possibilities to stay and the hope that the war would end. However, at a certain point, respondents stressed that they could not stay in the ‘save’ middle as the war forced to choose sides. “I had the possibility to stay because I lived in my parent’s home, but I did not have any other way to live. I was kidnapped once, was arrested twice and survived. I did not know if I would survive the fourth time”. Besides, at some point job securities decreased nationwide, respondents had less money to spent due to the increased prices, they were less able to study anymore, no longer felt safe and as their anxiety increased, they gradually lost their hope that the war would come to an end:

“But see, even an old woman, she lost her hope and wanted to leave the country. We did not have electricity in the city, can you live without electricity? Okay look, in my place they only cut off the electricity at night, but not in the poorer houses, they would only have electricity for an hour. We also dug a well to get water”.

Besides, many roads closed down to recruit men for militia. The government would close down the road with bricks, like checkpoints, while the government officials would ask for the young men’s names. If one’s name was written down, they would ask him to get out of the car and to come along with them. Yet, all the male respondents refused to participate in the war as they did not want to kill innocents. However, men who are only sons, men under 18 and above 49, and women of all ages were saved from military service. Some respondents also pointed out that they wanted to leave the country as most of their relatives and friends emigrated to Europe: “I wanted to stay, but then my friends also encouraged me to leave the country because there was nothing to do for me anymore. My friends left, what should I do alone”? Yet, for most of the respondents the main reason for leaving the country was securing their family. Thus, many respondents sold their (parent’s) properties, emptied their savings account or borrowed a certain amount of money from relatives, and left the country. It reached a point where the respondents were deprived from the capability to stay in Syria while the desire to escape the life threatening conditions increased.

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5. The role of class while seeking refuge

This chapter stresses the role of class during the migration trajectory by focussing on internal

migration and migration to neighbouring countries, and subsequently on the role of social, economic and cultural capital in the migration to the Netherlands.

5.1 Migration internally and to neighbouring countries

When people took the decision to leave, they generally took it fast. They would not have the possibility to stay (involuntary mobility) or, on the contrary, they would have the possibility to leave the country (voluntary mobility), depending on every personal situation. Several respondents migrated internally to cities like Latakia and Tartus in order to secure their families, while others could also continue their studies in these cities. One respondent moved to the port city Tartus, which is also an important trade center. His father owned a company that exported goods to Europe but also locally. They closed down the company during the war, but by moving to Tartus, the respondent tried to sell the company’s normal goods to traders he knew. Subsequently, he used the money he had earned in Tartus to migrate to the Netherlands. Thus, he acted with a deliberate purpose. Several other respondents mentioned selling their properties too, like cars, real-estate and farmland in order to acquire money for onward migration purposes.

A few respondents tried to live in neighbouring countries like Lebanon and Turkey to stay safe. Others would make their way directly to Europe. One respondent mentioned that some of his friends stayed in Syria who did not have the capability to leave the country. They did not possess a certain amount of money to travel (il) legally or they did not possess a transnational network to acquire a visa according to the respondent. Other friends of him only possessed enough resources to move to Lebanon or Turkey. Another respondent pointed out that she and her family had the aspiration to migrate to Europe. Since the school closed down and no lessons were given anymore, she therefore migrated to Lebanon to complete her study in English. Her parents stayed in their hometown in Syria, until her brother finished his baccalaureate. They also migrated to Lebanon for their safety until their visa expired. However, Lebanon does not grant a residence permit to Syrians and neither would they extend their visa, unless you pay $200 per person for an additional half year. Besides, they found out that Lebanese people are not fond of Syrian refugees and do not want to get in touch with Syrians. The respondent and her family decided it was the right time to leave Lebanon and Syria behind and to migrate to Europe: “In the winter it is very dangerous, the water level is very high. It was summer and not dangerous at sea. Now it was the right time to go”. Several other respondents tried to

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31 rebuild their life in Turkey first. The respondents saw Turkey as a safe country to reside with their families, not too far from their homeland. Moreover, in Lebanon some feared being recruited into one of the militia who are fighting in Syria and chose therefore to reside in Turkey. However, the respondents found out they could not find a decent job or they had to work long hours while being paid little. One respondent lived in Turkey with his mother and siblings while his father stayed in Syria and supported them financially from there. He pointed out that the rent of the house in Turkey in which he resided was excessively high. Therefore, he called his father in Syria to advise him to sell their house and car in Syria so his father could also move to Turkey. The respondent’s idea then was that he could migrate to Europe if his father would be reunited with his family in Turkey and hand him the money. This respondent, as well as the other respondents, had high migration aspirations at a certain point: they started looking for better opportunities and saw Europe as a destination considering a residence permit and family reunification. This was their gradual decision of their onward journey.

5.2 Social Network

When respondents found out they could not stay in Syria or neighbouring countries, when they had the possibility to leave the country or when they saw better opportunities in Europe, the majority of respondents firstly started approaching their network. This paragraph describes the role of network during the migration of Syrians to the Netherlands.

The network was used for different purposes in the migratory trajectory. Approaching one’s network was one of many ways to collect money for migration purposes if the respondent did not possess enough money. Most of them turned to their close relatives like their brother, father or uncle for money. In most cases, the family decided that the son or husband of the family should migrate to Europe with the intention of establishing a base and to pursue family reunification. If someone would not possess the money but had the aspiration to flee Syria, they could always count on their relatives for funding. However, not only relatives were approached. Some respondents emphasized that in some cases they could also ask their friends for financial support: “I could borrow it from friends or something like that, like almost all Syrian people. Not every Syrian person that came here has money”. Moreover, respondents with a transnational network would receive financial support from them. This network consisted of relatives or friends in the Netherlands, ensuring that they would arrive in the Netherlands. Occasionally, respondents who depended on remittances of their transnational network used this money for their own emigration purposes.

The ingredients of escaping war : how class influences the migration of Syrians to the Netherlands