turkISh emIgrAtION ANd ItS I mplICAtIONS 131
than comprehensive, and ignorant rather than concerned (İçduygu 2012); and,
thirdly, although Turkey’s off icial concerns on emigration-related issues seem
to have receded somewhat, it again started to become very conscious about
it, though only since the early 2000s, and mostly because of its EU affairs.
Today it is very clear that neither emigration itself nor remittances as its
by-product are seen by off icials in Turkey as a way of overcoming economic
diff iculties and promoting development in various parts of the country, ‘a
reversal of 1960s hopes that emigration would lead to development’ (Escobar,
Hailbronner, Martin & Meza 2006: 711). Although the country is still experienc-
ing diff iculties in the creation of jobs for its citizens, the option of emigration
does not seem to be a feasible solution, as the possibilities of f inding new
destination areas are not that high and incentives to emigrate are even weaker.
On the other hand, as the country has started negotiating its accession to the
EU, it is hoped that new windows of opportunity will be opened up by the
expected f lows of foreign direct investment and the creation of new jobs.
Based on a review of the literature, this chapter has addressed some
of the economic and social consequences of emigration for the country.
Despite the plethora of studies on Turkish international migration, few focus
specif ically on the effect of this migratory movement on the country. The
challenge is to extract and synthesise into a coherent body of knowledge
the generalisable consequences of emigration for the country.
On the whole, international migration of the type engaged in by emigrants
from Turkey over the last few decades has tended to improve the economic
position in the home country of both the returned migrants and, through
remittances, those in their close networks. Whether this economic better-
ment proves to be of lasting benef it either to the migrants and their networks
or to the society from which they come is, at the least, a debatable point,
the resolution of which depends essentially on the length of time under
consideration and the criteria employed. One thinks, for example, of Yemen,
an overwhelmingly agricultural country, being forced to import a large
proportion of its food because of the emigration of so many men out of ag-
riculture and into the oil f ields of the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia (Swanson
1979). And at a more individual level, there are the three-quarters of the 81
respondents in a recent study in Turkey who had not themselves migrated
but who said that, because of the migration of a close relative, they had
bought things they would not otherwise have been able to buy and that these
purchases had produced friction between themselves and their neighbours,
friends or relatives (Day & İçduygu 1997). Of course, emigration can also have
non-economic consequences: personal frustration, sorrow and discontent,
as well as, on occasion, hope, joy and happiness. But what of rather more