turkISh emIgrAtION ANd ItS I mplICAtIONS 113
from Germany and the Netherlands suggest that there has been a steady level
of returning migrants over the last ten years. For instance, in the f irst half
of the 1990s, there were 40,000 to 45,000 returnees from Germany annually,
and around 2,000 returnees per year from the Netherlands. The estimated
annual number of returnees was around 100,000 in the early 1980s, stabilising
at 40,000-50,000 in recent years (İçduygu 2012).
In fact, this is mostly the movement of a f loating population of emigrants
between the host countries and their home country. Many Turkish emigrants
who had previously settled in different European countries are returning to
Turkey, though not all of them permanently. Many of the f irst generation who
migrated in the 1960s and 1970s and later retired have started spending six
months in Turkey and six months in Europe. They prefer to retain the host-
country health services and pension systems, and often do not wish to give
up their houses; they also try to keep in contact with their relatives, who live
both in Turkey and abroad. Meanwhile, the children of migrants who were
born in Europe or who grew up there sometimes return to Turkey in search
of their roots. These are the indicators of the last stage in the Turkish migra-
tion cycle – the repatriation, immigration or circulation stage. Certainly, as
well as the circular movements and the return migration f lows which are
explained above, there seems to be a growing number of immigrants moving
to Turkey for a variety of other reasons (İçduygu & Kirişci 2009).
Today it is relatively easy to f ind, in almost all Western European set-
tlements with a high density of migrants, communities originating from
Turkey which tend to establish their own enclaves – socially, economically
and culturally distinct entities. Although each of these communities in
each of the receiving countries has its own peculiar characteristics, there
are also various commonalities between these communities.
- The main factor that shaped the nature of Turkish migrant communi-
ties in Europe from the 1960s to the 2000s was the transformation of
the settlement process from a temporary stay to permanent settlement
(Abadan-Unat 2002). - Migratory f lows from Turkey began as a process of labour movement in
the 1960s which was later complemented by family reunif ication in the
1970s, and then coupled with asylum and irregular migratory f lows in the
1980s and 1990s. - In the early period of migration, the majority of Turkish emigrants arrived
in Germany, France and the Netherlands, though some went to Austria,
Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland; in the late period, Norway
and the UK were added to these destination countries.