This research aims to determine school administrators’ perceptions toward war, asylum seekers/refugees, and Syrians in Turkey through the mediation of metaphors. The research has been performed with 109 school principals working at various types of schools. An open-ended form was organized as the data collection tool, and the school principals were asked to complete the sentences “According to me, war is similar to … because …”, “According to me, asylum seekers/refugees are similar to … because …”, and “According to me, Syrians in Turkey are similar to … because …” The obtained data have been analyzed using the method of content analysis. As a research result, the school principals are seen to have produced 86 metaphors toward the phenomenon of war, 86 toward asylum seekers/refugees, and 83 toward Syrians in Turkey. Almost all principals stated their negativity by emphasizing the destructiveness of war. The school principals are seen to have featured asylum seekers/refugees being driven from their homeland and to approach them with more pity. The school principals are observed to also have formed similar metaphors toward asylum seekers/refugees on the issue of Syrians in Turkey. However, attention is drawn to the fact that one out of four school principals had derived negative metaphors toward Syrians. The study’s findings are discussed in light of the relevant literature and suggestions are found for further studies.

School principals, asylum seekers, refugees, Syrians in Turkey, metaphor analysis