Turkey'S Diversifying Foreign Residents: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

The movement of people from less developed regions of the vvorld to the more advanced countries has been vvidely studied with regard to its implications for economic growth, international security and socio-political consequences in receiving countries. Turkey, critically placed in one of the most volatile regions of the world, has a very diverse and dangerous neighborhood. Thus, the country plays an important role in the migration of people from neighboring countries to Western Europe as a buffer state. Although Turkey's role as a transit country has been well documented in the literatüre, what is less knovvn is that the country also receives increasing number of immigrants, both from Middle East but also more recently from Western Europe. This study is an attempt to uncover nevv aspects of migration concerning Turkey. First it finds that, Turkey is gradually becoming one of the nevv destinations of migration, as the offıcial statistics clearly demonstrate. Secondly, the study also analyzes a survey data conducted by the authors regarding demographic characteristics, socio-cultural orientations and integration process of the foreign residents in Turkey. The results of the survey research indicate that foreigners are not subjected to any serious and vvidespread discrimination either by the authorities or by the communities in Turkey. Among the participants, 36.9 per cent state that they have sensed no discrimination vvhen applying for a job or at vvork places. The percentage of those feeling themselves secure in Turkey is 87.7, vvhile those feeling unsafe is only 12.3 per cent. The majör diffıculties the foreigners confront are unemployment, economical problems and excessive bureaucratic process especially in obtaining a vvork permit.