Migration scenarios: turkey, egypt and Morocco 275
II, who survived two military uprisings and took part in the October 1973 war
against Israel. In 1976, Morocco took ownership from Spain of areas in the West
Sahara which had always been claimed by Morocco. This was also the time
when the Polisario protest movement was born in the West Sahara which,
to this day, f ights for the independence of this area. In 1999, Hassan II’s son,
Mohammad VI, assumed the throne and partly loosened the autocratic rules
laid down by his father. The elections of 2002 were seen by most observers
to have been fair and free. Economic, political and social reforms followed,
among others a strengthening of women’s rights, permission to teach in
the Berber language at school, and the release of many political prisoners.
Nevertheless, freedom of the press is still limited in Morocco (Krauter 2004;
Library of Congress 2006). In 2011, in the course of the Arab Uprising, the King
of Morocco enforced a constitutional reform which, for the f irst time, included
basic rights. Furthermore, democratic participation was extended. There is
now a coalition government in charge, with a moderate Islamic president.
Nevertheless power remains mainly in the hands of the king (World Bank
2013).
Major elements of instability in the country are the Islamistic groups such
as Salaf iya Jihadiya, who were responsible for the terror attacks in Casa-
blanca^11 in 2003. Following these attacks, the government clamped down on
these and other groups and eventually became an important ally in the f ight
of the North Atlantic powers against terrorism (Library of Congress 2006).
The strict rejection of extremist attacks is also clearly linked to the country’s
dependence on international tourism, a very important source of income.
Like Turkey, Morocco has a long history of migration to Europe. France
f irst recruited workers in Morocco for the army, industry and mines during
World War I and World War II. However, most of these workers returned to
Morocco. Migration from Morocco to France also continued after Moroccan
independence, particularly during the time of the Algerian War of Independ-
ence (1954-1962). In 1963, France signed an off icial recruitment agreement
with Morocco. Other countries, such as Belgium, The Netherlands and
Germany, also recruited in Morocco, albeit to a lesser degree (see de Haas in
this volume; also see Berrada 1994; Khachani 2004; Lahlou, Alami M’chichi
& Hamdouch 2005). A signif icant rise in emigration to Spain and Italy
took place in the late 1990s. Initially, it was thought that the migration of
Moroccan workers to Europe would only be temporary but, after the oil
shock of 1973, many migrant workers took up permanent residence there.
11 These consisted of f ive coordinated suicide bombings directed toward Jewish or Western
establishments. A total of 40 people were killed in these attacks.