The Syrian businesses leaving Turkey

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 28 July 2025

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Syria remains an unstable country, with outbreaks of deadly violence, yet many refugees in Turkey are still choosing to return home after their brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December.

We’re in Little Syria, in Turkey’s largest city Istanbul, where lines of Arabic businesses once stood and where the streets are now noticeably quieter. As Syrians return home, what impact is that having on the Turkish economy?

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Presented and produced by Emily Wither

(Picture: Women pass by Syrian shops at Malta bazaar, with other mainly Syrian shopkeepers at Fatih district in Istanbul, Turkey, on the 6th of December 2024, two days before Bashar al-Assad was overthrown. At the time, 500,000 Syrian refugees were living in Istanbul. Credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Business Daily on the BBC World Service. I'm Emily Wither. We've come to an area in
0:07.5	Istanbul that is known as Little Syria. It's in the fatty district of the city. And during the war in
0:15.2	Syria, this neighbourhood really became a home away from home for Syrians. The streets here are lined with Arabic shop signs, Syrian bakeries, cafes selling specialities,
0:28.6	usually found in Damascus, Aleppo, Homs.
0:32.5	And it was really a place for Syrians to get a taste of home through food and culture and everyday services.
0:39.2	But these days, this area is noticeably quieter.
0:45.2	Syria is still an unstable country, with outbreaks of deadly violence.
0:49.8	Yet many refugees in Turkey are still choosing to return home after their brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad
0:56.4	was toppled in December. In 2011, a peaceful uprising against the Assad regime descended into a
1:03.5	brutal civil war and over the next decade, millions fled the country. Turkey took in more Syrians
1:10.1	than any other nation, officially hosting
1:13.1	3.8 million at its peak. Syrians transformed parts of Turkey, especially in border towns and
1:20.2	big cities. Informal work surged in sectors like textiles and construction, and thousands of Syrian
1:27.1	businesses relocated here,
1:29.2	boosting local economies. But now, with a new government in Syria and so many heading home,
1:35.6	what does that mean for the places they've left behind? To show us around this neighbourhood
1:40.2	and help translate is Syrian journalist Megira al-Sharif. Just describe for us where we are right now.
1:47.0	This is called Suk Malta, or the Malta Bazaar, next to the historic Fatih Mosque.
1:56.0	Some people call this place as the little Syria.
2:00.0	You can barely find a Turkish shop in this area.
2:04.2	Everyone's speaking Arabic.
2:05.7	Yes.
	...

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