Rasha When I Picture My Future

Rasha, a 16-year-old Syrian refugee living in Turkey, is pessimistic about his future: “Now that I can’t go to school, it’s a tough situation…I work occasionally, filling in for my sisters at the factory. When I picture my future, I see nothing,” he says (qtd. in “When I Picture My Future”). Rasha’s lack of hope is reflected by the severe humanitarian crisis Syrian refugees face: amidst acute poverty and without sufficient income, many are forced to withdraw their children from school and put them to work, depriving them of an education and subjecting them to inhumane conditions in factories and workshops. This multilayered crisis poses a severe threat to Turkey, a valuable U.S. ally, and may contribute to regional instability in the future.
As of February 2017, Turkey hosts 2.9 million of these refugees, the most of any country in the world (“Syria Regional Refugee Response”). Because of this large influx, hosting the refugees represents a significant challenge, and Turkey has “struggled to cope” with the needs of a refugee population of this size (İçduygu 2). Since many of the refugees are unlikely to return home for the foreseeable future, and some may even spend the rest of their lives in Turkey, improving the lives of Turkey’s refugee population is of vast importance (Kirişci and Ferris
The number of Syrian children in Turkey who are not in school is as high as 400,000 (International Crisis Group 3). In the long term, this large out-of-school population will contribute to continued poverty, and will create a “Lost Generation” of Syrians (“Over 40 per cent”). Refugees have an ample desire to learn, but without the cause of the crisis—the need to provide for their families—being addressed, Syrian refugee children will continue to leave school in order to work (Johannisson). Addressing this complex economic problem is of great urgency for the United States. Poverty feeds instability and violence; a large population of refugees in penury can contribute to civil unrest and extremism (Pascual and Graff 202). Because Turkey is an “important U.S. security partner…[and] a valued North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ally,” promoting internal stability and peace in the country is essential to American interests (“U.S. Relations With Turkey”). Consequently, ensuring that refugees aren’t the source of instability is integral to the State Department’s mission in