Migration in the Turkish Republic Turkey has historically been a country of both emigration and immigration. Internal dynamics, bilateral agreements, conflicts and war, and political and economic interests have led to the emergence of different migratory movements at different times. Some of these movements have been regular and some are irregular. Turkish guest-worker emigration to Europe, refugee emigration after the 1970s and continuing during the 1980s until today, student migration and emigration of highly-skilled people are the main migratory movements from Turkey to various parts of the world. Bulgarian immigration into Turkey between 1923 and the 1990s, reaching a peak in 1989; immigration of asylum seekers and refugees; trafficked and smuggled people; illegal immigrants and, recently, the reverse migration of the Euro-Turks (Kaya and Kentel, 2005), who are the second and third generation children of the guest-workers, are the major immigration moves into Turkey. Moreover, due to its geographical location between Europe and Asia, Turkey is also a transit point for migrants from the Middle East and Central Asia who want to reach the prosperous European Union countries. Thus, Turkey and its migration policies are crucial to the EU countries which want Turkey to control its borders against illegal and transit migrants in line with the Geneva Convention. This is the main reason why Turkey s migration policy focuses on asylum seekers, refugees and illegal migrants. Turkey has made progress in the field of migration policy by trying to bring current policies into line with international and EU standards. Another important migratory pattern determining Turkey s social structure is constituted by internal migration dynamics, which can still be observed from rural eastern and south-eastern Turkey to the urban western Turkey. A significant part of this migration process consisted of internally displaced population due to armed conflict in south-eastern Anatolia between 1984 and 1999. Turkish industrialisation and modernisation from the beginnings of 1950s was marked by a move from the rural areas towards the big cities, namely Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. In the 1950s, 75% of Turkey s population was rural and this fact was reversed in 60 years. By 2010, Turkey s population was 70% urban (UNFPA, 2007). It was internal migration which played a vital role in this demographic and societal transformation. Moreover, rural to urban migration gained a different dimension between the years 1984 and 1999 with the phenomenon of internal displacement of many people of Kurdish origin. These people were forced to leave their villages because of the political and military conflict in south-eastern and eastern Turkey. They also migrated to big cities, mostly to Istanbul and have changed the social structure of the city significantly. EMIGRANTS FROM TURKEY While there was movement from rural areas to the urban centres starting from the 1950s, Turkey signed its first bilateral labour agreement with Germany in 1961 when Turkish guest-worker migration to Europe began. This was seen as a necessary move by the Turkish state in order to solve the problem of unemployment by means of encouraging migration of the excess workforce abroad. In addition to Germany, Turkey signed agreements with Austria, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden. Turkish labour emigration was not only directed to the European continent. A labour agreement was also signed with Australia. In 1973, labour recruitments ceased. However, Turkish migration continued with family reunification procedures and in the form of refugee and asylum flows. Due to the difficult political atmosphere in the country in the 1970s and 1980s, many people left Turkey and became refugees mainly in European countries. After the 1990s, Turkish emigration to the USA (both legal, basically as student migration, and illegal), to Saudi Arabia and Libya were the main forms of emigration. Turkey has been dealing with Turkish emigrants through its embassies and consulates. There was no specific state institution responsible for expatriates. Issues related to them and problems they might encounter in their countries of residence have been solved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. In 2010, the Directorate for Turkish Expatriates was founded and is now responsible for emigrants and their problems. Turkish emigration has always been an important source of funds for Turkish economy through remittances sent by Turkish people abroad. The World Bank counts the Turkey-Germany remittance corridor as one of the top ten global remittance corridors (IOM Report, 2010, p. 185). Turkey received a total of nearly 3 billion USD in remittances in 2002 (IMF, 2003). In the same report the World Bank cites Turkey as being among the countries in which the number of emigrants is greater than the number of immigrants (p. 249). According to statistics from the Turkish Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the total number of Turkish citizens living abroad was 3,765,175 by the end of 2009 259
Country Profile: Turkey CIDOB International Yearbook 2011 (see Figure 1). While more than three million of those people live in European countries, a considerable percentage resides in the USA, Canada, Australia and Middle Eastern countries. Although the number of emigrants is larger than that of immigrants in Turkey, the trend is towards an increase in the number of people migrating to Turkey, which has led to intensification in immigration policy making. IMMIGRANTS IN TURKEY Turkey, which is mostly known as a country of emigration to other places, especially to Europe, has also been a country of immigration and a country of asylum. Throughout history, people from other parts of the world have migrated to Turkey. Immigration into Turkey has come especially from neighbouring countries with an unstable political, economic and social environment. For example, in the mid-1920s, a forced population exchange was carried out between Greece and Turkey, this affecting half a million Muslims and Turks in Greece and over a million Greeks in Turkey. In this forced population exchange, many families were torn apart and children and friends were left behind. Second, from 1923 to 1997, more than 1.6 million people migrated to Turkey mostly from Balkan countries. This immigration flow from the Balkan region also continued in 1989, 1992-1995 and in 1999. Third, during the Cold War, asylum seekers from former Communist Bloc states in Eastern Europe and from the Soviet Union fled to Turkey in thousands. By the late 1980s, there were increasing numbers of asylum seekers but this time from Iran and Iraq. Iranians sought refuge in Turkey after the revolution in Iran in the 1980s while, from 1988 to 1991, there was a massive influx of mostly Kurdish refugees from Iraq. Since the 1990s, there have been refugee flows from countries like Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan and Ethiopia. In addition to the refugee and asylum movements, irregular immigration is also observed. However, it is not easy to define regular-irregular or legal-illegal immigration because transit migration, human trafficking, refugee migration and asylum seeker flows are intertwined. What is striking is the extent of refugee flows, asylum seekers and irregular immigration into Turkey. This has grown to a significant degree and has thus prompted the EU to pressure Turkey to change and develop in its migration policy. EVOLUTION OF IMMIGRATION POLICY Until the beginning of the year 2000, there were three legal pillars of migration policy in Turkey. These are the Law on Settlement (1934), the Geneva Convention on Refugees (1951) and the Regulation on Asylum (1994). Within the context of harmonisation processes with the EU, Turkey has been engaged in legal work directed at changes in the migration law and policy. With the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, the elite of the new republic in Turkey wanted to construct a new, pure Turkish ethnic identity and, in order to achieve this aim, they gave priority to accepting immigrants who were either Muslim Turkish speakers or who were officially considered to belong to ethnic groups that would easily melt into a Turkish identity such as Albanians, Bosnians, Circassians, Pomaks, who are Bulgar- ian speaking Muslims, and Tatars from the Balkans (Kirişçi, 2003, p. 3). According to the Law of Settlement promulgated in 1934, only people who are of Turkish decent and culture can migrate and settle in Turkey. As Erder points out, although it is not clear from this law what is meant by Turkish ethnicity and culture, Muslims and communities from the Balkan region who speak Turkish have benefited from this law and migrated to Turkey (2003, p. 158). Among the people who migrated to Turkey between 1923 and 1997, Bulgarians were the largest group of immigrants to settle in Turkey. These Bulgarian immigrants, who have been called göçmen (which simply means migrant) by Turkish society, were given many opportunities by the Turkish state. They were given a piece of land in Anatolia and Bulgarian immigrants built their own houses and engaged in agriculture on these blocks of land. In 1989, as a result of Bulgarian governmental policy towards the ethnic identity of Turks, more than 300,000 ethnic Turks and Pomaks migrated to Turkey after they were expelled from the country when they refused to accept a Bulgarian Slav identity, which was a part of a campaign of the Communist regime. This immigration to Turkey was really unexpected. After the collapse of the regime in 1990, one third of these Bulgarian immigrants returned to their country while the rest stayed and obtained Turkish citizenship. However, as a result of Bulgaria s EU membership in 2007, many more Bulgarian immigrants returned to reclaim Bulgarian citizenship. The second pillar of the migration policy of Turkey is the 1951 Geneva Convention on refugees and asylum procedures. Turkey has always been a country of asylum because of its geographical closeness to unstable areas of the world. Historically, during the Ottoman era, there were Jewish people who fled from Germany R. Federation Sweden Australia Switzerland others Figure 1: Percentage of Turkish citizens abroad by country of residence 2009 (%) France Netherlands United States Austria Saudi Arabia U. Kingdom Denmark 12%44% 10% 7% 3% 3% 11% 2% 2% 2% 2% 1% 1% Source: Ministry of Labour and Social Security and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. www.csgb.gov.tr/csgbportal/diyih.portal?page=yv&id=1 260
the Spanish Inquisition to the Ottoman Empire. After that, flows of asylum-seeking groups continued to enter Turkey. In 1935, Jewish people from different parts of Europe came to Turkey because of the fascist regimes in the continent. Current asylum history and current asylum policies of Turkey start with the 1951 Convention which is related to refugee status. Turkey was one of the twenty-six countries that participated in this conference. During the Cold War, there were refugees from the former Communist Bloc countries in Turkey. According to the estimates of Ministry of Interior, between 1970 and 1996, 13,500 asylum seekers benefited from asylum law under the 1951 Convention. Another important group of asylum seekers from Europe are 20,000 Bosnian Muslims who were given temporary asylum during the war in former Yugoslavia between 1992 and 1995 (Kirişçi, 2003, p. 61). When one looks at asylum in Turkey today, it is obvious that most of the asylum seekers are from non-european countries. According to UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) data, Turkey, at the end of 2005, UNHCR-recognised refugees and asylum seekers numbered almost 7,300 people. Most of the asylum applicants and refugees are from Iran, Iraq, Somali, and Afghanistan. Indeed, this flow of non-european asylum seekers to Turkey is not a new phenomenon. As mentioned above, in 1988 and 1991, there was a massive flow of Kurdish refugees to Turkey. According to Kirisci, Turkey has a two-tiered asylum policy. The first tier concerns asylum seekers from Europe and Turkey gives them refugee status. They are granted all the rights of refugees. However, the second-tier of Turkey s asylum policy which is centred on the asylum seekers from outside of Europe did not have any provisions governing their status. While it was easy for Iranian refugees to enter Turkey, it was not the same with the massive flow of Kurdish refugees to Turkey in 1991. With this flow, Turkey began to change its policy and reject Iraqis coming to Turkey. In 1994, the Turkish government introduced new Asylum Regulation which brought strict controls on access in asylum procedures. European and non-european asylum seekers receive different treatment. Asylum seekers have to register within ten days when they enter Turkey and prove valid identification within 15 days. While Europeans are given refugee status, non-europeans are attended to by the UNHCR in Turkey. This national regulation has been criticised by European governments and international human rights groups. Accordingly, Turkey started to soften its approach to asylum policies (Kirişçi, 2003, p. 66). With the negotiations between Turkey and the European Union on Turkey s membership procedures, the European Union countries put pressure on Turkey to tighten its asylum policy again. This is because Turkey is likely to be the first country of asylum for asylum seekers or refugees who want to move on to European Union countries. With regard to the EU priorities on migration policy, Turkey has passed various bills related to immigrants. In 2002, human trafficking and smuggling was defined as a crime and severe punishments for traffickers were introduced. Labour activities of immigrants were regulated in 2003 with a law on work permits of foreigners as a precaution against any possible illegal activities of immigrants. Further work on regulations is yet to be done in terms of signing readmission agreements with source countries (Migration and Asylum Bureau of the Ministry of Interior). While there is pressure on Turkey from the EU to conclude readmission agreements, Turkey gives priority to allaying the costs of such agreements. Migration in the Turkish Republic Figure 2: Immigrants in Turkey by country of origin* 2010 Germany Bulgaria Cyprus 1 Azerbaijan Russian Fed. Netherlands France United States Saudi Arabia England Austria Switzerland Iran Iraq Kazakhstan Belgium Romania Uzbekistan Greece Georgia Ukraine Afghanistan Albania Turkmenistan 1 Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus * Top 25 countries where most of the immigrants come from Source: Turkish Statistical Institute (2000 Population Census) Total number of immigrants in Turkey was 234,111 in 2000 0 30,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 70,000 80,000 261
Country Profile: Turkey 14,000 12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 4,000 Figure 3: Number of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Turkey 1995-2009 Asylum Seekers Refugees Source: UNHCR 2,000 0 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 CIDOB International Yearbook 2011 CHALLENGES IN IMMIGRATION POLICY In spite of the changes Turkey has brought about in the migration policy area, the country still has a good deal to do. The most significant challenge faced by Turkey s migration policy is irregular migration, which is difficult to distinguish from the asylum seeker and refugee flows, transit migration and human trafficking. Since the 1990s, irregular immigration into Turkey has been increasing. This is mainly comprised by irregular migrants from former Soviet Bloc countries who work in Turkey illegally. Turkey allows people from its neighbouring countries such as Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia, Ukraine and other Central Asian countries to enter Turkey freely or with visas that can be easily obtained at the borders or airports. This open-border policy was actually designed to attract and encourage more tourists into the country. Since Turkey is in the process of adopting the EU Schengen visa system, this flexible visa policy is currently being altered. Turkey has already started applying visa requirements for a number of Central Asian and Middle Eastern countries. Irregular immigrants from the aforementioned countries enter the country and start working informally. One of the most important informal activities that these irregular immigrants engage in is the suitcase trade. This informal trading activity is found among immigrants from former Soviet Union countries. Russian and Eastern European traders come to Turkey as tourists, buy textile products and take them to their country as passenger belongings. This way, they avoid paying taxes. This informal activity represented three million dollars in 2000 and it constitutes more than ten percent of total export revenues (Erder, 2003, p. 165). Other important economic activities in which illegal immigrants engage in Turkey are domestic and sex work, construction work and tourism sector jobs. While some migrant women, mainly from Ukraine and Moldova, do domestic work for upper-class households in Istanbul, others work as sex labourers. Human trafficking is also embedded in the latter migratory process. It is impossible to estimate the numbers of irregular migrants as they are not registered and they work informally. However, there are statistics for the number of apprehended illegal migrants. According to the figures from the Directorate General of Security, Department of Foreigners, Borders and Asylum, almost 95,000 illegal migrants were apprehended by the Turkish security forces in 2000. In 2010, this figure dropped to 32,667. Turkey s geopolitical position between the Middle Eastern countries, the former Soviet Bloc and the European Union countries shapes and complicates its migration policy framework. Within the process of Turkish accession to the EU, in particular, the EU s needs and priorities are taken into consideration by Turkey when the migration policies are made. Moreover, the overlapping of illegal migration and refugee and asylum flows makes the field of migration policy framework more complicated. Despite the fact that there are various problems and difficulties and that there is still much to do, Turkey has come a long way in dealing with immigration and making appropriate policies. 262
100,000 90,000 80,000 70,000 60,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 0 Figure 4: Apprehended Illegal Migrants 1995-2010 Source: Directorate General of Security, Department of Foreigners, Borders and Asylum Migration in the Turkish Republic 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 References Corliss, S., 2003, Asylum in Turkey: Today and Future Prospects in Migration and Labour in Europe: Views from Turkey and Sweden, eds. Emrehan Zeybekoglu and Bo Johansson, Marmara University Research Centre for International Relations, Swedish National Institute for Working Life: Istanbul Erder, S., 2003, Global Flows of Huddles: The Case of Turkey in Migration and Labour in Europe: Views from Turkey and Sweden, eds. Emrehan Zeybekoglu and Bo Johansson, Marmara University Research Centre for International Relations, Swedish National Institute for Working Life: Istanbul UNHCR Statistics on Asylum in Turkey http://www.unhcr.org.tr/mep/index.aspx?pageid=158 Percentage of population of Turkey residing in urban areas, 1950-2030 www.unfpa.org/swp/2007/presskit/country_data/turkey. xls World Migration Report 2010: The Future of Migration: Building Capacities for Change, 2010, International Organisation for Migration Kaya, A. and F. Kentel, 2005, Euro-Turks: A Bridge or A Breach between Turkey and the European Union?: A Comparative Study of German-Turks and French-Turks, Centre for European Policy Studies: Brussels Kirisci, K., 2003, Turkish Asylum Policies in a European Perspective in Migration and Labour in Europe: Views from Turkey and Sweden, eds. Emrehan Zeybekoglu and Bo Johansson, Marmara University Research Centre for International Relations, Swedish National Institute for Working Life: Istanbul Kirisci, K., 2003, Turkey: A Transformation from Emigration to Immigration in www.migrationinformation.org IMF, Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook, 2003, in International Migration Outlook, International Migrant Remittances and their Role in Development, OECD, 2006 www.oecd.org/ dataoecd/61/46/38840502.pdf Migration in Turkey: A Country Profile, 2008, International Organisation for Migration 263