RETURN MIGRATION TO TURKEY AND IDENTITY PROBLEMS OF TURKISH MIGRANTS

Abstract

This study examines the identity problem for the workers that turned back to Turkey. Starting from 1960s, lots of workers migrated to European countries as a solution to the problem of unemployment in Turkey. The migrants brought their families with them and got accustomed to living abroad. However statistics prove that a group of migrants returned back to Turkey. Migrants had many problems after return. Turks in Turkey excluded them from the society, mainly because their dialect was different. Eventually, an identity problem emerged for the returned migrants and they experienced a confusion and ambiguity concerning their origin. Although, these migrants shared the same ethnic origin with people living in Turkey, they experienced difficulties in adapting to their national culture. It has been seen that the Turkish migrant identity, which refer to the identity of returned Turks who migrated to European Countries, is not exactly Turkish identity or European identity, but it carries features from both. This migrant identity is an ambivalent identity, constituted of some of factors; Turkish migrants feeling like belonging to nowhere, them having a desire to live in Europe, and them to keep having religious values and feelings different than both Turks in Turkey and people in host countries. Some of the migrants adapted themselves to other cultures, and their interest to their traditional cultures decreased. Consequently, the concept of nation carries a different meaning for the returned migrants. This study examines, why and how the returned migrants became the other in their own countries This study examines the identity problem for the workers that turned back to Turkey. Starting from 1960s, lots of workers migrated to European countries as a solution to the problem of unemployment in Turkey. The migrants brought their families with them and got accustomed to living abroad. However statistics prove that a group of migrants returned back to Turkey. Migrants had many problems after return. Turks in Turkey excluded them from the society, mainly because their dialect was different. Eventually, an identity problem emerged for the returned migrants and they experienced a confusion and ambiguity concerning their origin. Although, these migrants shared the same ethnic origin with people living in Turkey, they experienced difficulties in adapting to their national culture. This study tried to examine the identity problems of Turkish returned migrants. Its basic question was to see to what extent changes in perceptions of identity occurred after return for Turkish migrants. At first, the historical background of the process is analyzed. Migrants’ adjustment problems, exclusion and experiences in European countries and the returning process were described. Their problems showed that the reason why Turkish migrants do not feel like belonging to these countries. Perhaps, if they did not feel excluded in these countries, they would never decide to return. Turkish migrants faced many difficulties in European Countries, from adjustment to living conditions challenges. Living abroad was difficult in these countries, but migrants faced some problems after return too. The main purpose of the study was to explain what happened after their return. To what extent Turkish migrants feel different from the Turks living in Turkey, and to what extent they feel as a “foreigner” in Turkey. For this purpose, twenty three in-depth interviews were conducted with Turkish migrants who had migrated to the following countries: Germany, France, Denmark, Austria, Holland and Switzerland. As the vast majority of the Turkish migrants have gone to Germany, many of the interviews were with the migrants who came back to Turkey from Germany. This study also contains interviews with people who migrated to Germany's various cities such as: Berlin, Nuremberg, Cologne, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Mainz. For the interviews, the following criteria were used in the purposive selection of participants; they must: (1) be Turkish migrants who returned to Turkey from European Countries or Turkish migrants still living in European Countries. (2) have spent at least five years in European Countries (3) have migrated to work or migrated to come together with his/her family who have migrated to work. In this study, biographies of people, names or personal characteristics that are not pertaining to the topic were not included. With these interviews, main aim was to conduct a common idea of the “Turkish migrant identity”. After return, Turkish migrants had adjustment problems, and maybe the main problem was that they were disappointed because they could not find Turkey of pre-migration. They could not find better jobs in Turkey, and they could not find friendships as before. Turkey was changed in many respects. With globalization, Turkey lost some of its characteristics that separate him from the rest of the world. The music, fashion, food, and every other cultural item began to resemble to European and American cultures. Migrants had many problems after return. Turks in Turkey excluded them from the society, mainly because their dialect was different. In Turkey they were called as “Almancı”, “tourist”, “foreigner”. They could not feel like they were at home. Apart from these, migrant people could not feel the same as Turks in Turkey. They do not feel like belonging to Turkey, and they are willing to live abroad in the future. Most of the migrants feel closer to the other Turkish migrants who had migrated to other European Countries, because they all had similar experiences. Some of the Turkish migrants stayed in Europe for such a long time, that they forget Turkish. According to the in-depth interviews of this study, the Turkish migrants also cannot speak English, French or German properly. Many of them stated that they were having problems because of their languages abroad and similarly the returned migrants also expressed that they are having problems

Özet

Bu çalışma, Türkiye'ye dönen göçmenlerdeki kimlik sorununu incelemektedir. Türkiye işsizlik soruna bir çözüm bulmak amacıyla 1960'lı yıllardan beri Avrupa ülkelerine göçmen göndermektedir. Bu göçmenler zamanla ailelerini de yanlarında getirerek yurt dışında yaşamaya alışmıştır. Ancak istatistikler, bazı göçmenlerin Türkiye'ye geri döndüğünü kanıtlamaktadır. Göç edenlerin geri döndüklerinde birçok sorunu olmuştur. Türkiye'deki Türkler, çoğunlukla konuşma biçimleri farklı olduğu için onları toplumdan dışlamışlardır. Geri dönen göçmenler için bir kimlik sorunu ortaya çıkmış, kendilerini hiçbir ülkeye ait değilmiş gibi hissetmeye başlamışlardır. Kendi yurttaşlarıyla aynı etnik kökeni paylaşsalar da geri döndüklerinde gelmiş oldukları ülkelerle karşılaştırıldığında önemli kültür farklılıkları olduğunu görmüşlerdir. Bunun da ötesinde görülmüştür ki, Avrupa ülkelerine göç edip Türkiye'ye geri dönen Türklerin kimliğini vurgulayan Türk göçmen kimliği, ne tam olarak Türk kimliği ne de Avrupa kimliğidir, her ikisinden de özellik taşımaktadır. Bu göçmen kimliği, bazı faktörlerden oluşan değişken bir kimliktir; Türk göçmenler hiçbir yere ait değil gibi hissetmekte, Avrupa'da yaşamak istemekte ve hem Türkiye'deki Türklerden hem de ev sahibi ülkelerdeki insanlardan farklı dini değerler ve duygulara sahip olmaya devam etmektedirler. Bazı göçmenler diğer kültürlere kendilerini o kadar adapte etmişlerdir ki, artık geleneksel kültürlerine ilgileri azalmıştır. Sonuç olarak ulus kavramı da geri dönen göçmenler için farklı bir anlam taşımaya başlamıştır. Bu çalışmada, geri dönen göçmenlerin neden ve nasıl kendi ülkelerinde ötekileştikleri incelenmiştir