By building on available literature and interview notes with the NGOs working mainly on refugees and irregular migrants, this study examines the experiences of civil society in Turkey in the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the main findings is that NGOs responded quite early and with agility to the sufferings of people before the state entered into the field and implemented its own rules and methods to deal with the crisis. The study also reveals that the pandemic affected the focus of the NGOs, their services, finances, and working methods in the field. The organizations we examined adapted to a new online working environment which increased demand for their services and aggravated difficulties in assuring clients access to needed healthcare services. The study finds that relations with the local and central governments remain difficult, and during the pandemic, the NGOs were compelled to act very cautiously. While suffering from their society’s political polarization, they report that xenophobia continues to rise and has been worsened by the impact of the pandemic.

中文翻译：

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早期响应的民间社会和迟来的国家：大流行期间土耳其的发现

通过利用现有文献和与主要从事难民和非正规移民工作的非政府组织的访谈记录，本研究考察了COVID-19大流行前6个月土耳其民间社会的经历。主要发现之一是，非政府组织在国家进入该领域并实施自己的规则和方法来应对危机之前，相当早地做出了反应，对人民的苦难做出了敏捷反应。该研究还表明，大流行影响了非政府组织的重点，其服务，财务和工作方法。我们检查的组织适应了新的在线工作环境，这增加了对他们的服务的需求，并在确保客户获得所需的医疗保健服务方面加重了困难。研究发现，与地方和中央政府的关系仍然很困难，在大流行期间，非政府组织被迫采取非常谨慎的行动。他们报告说，在遭受社会政治两极分化之苦的同时，仇外心理继续上升，并因大流行的影响而恶化。