Is Turkey Well Prepared for the Integration of Immigrants?

Immigration

Migration is traditionally defined as the more or less permanent movement of people across space (Peterson, 1968). The movement of people over some distance and from one “usual place of residence” to another is called migration (Kok, 1999). International migrant is defined as a person that is living in a country other than his/her own country of birth (United Nations, 2016). People usually emigrate out of one place because of various reasons including economic, political, social and environment forces and become “immigrant” in a new setting. It is claimed that these new immigration “touches the lives of more people and loom larger in the politics and economics of more states than at any time in the modern era” (Papademetriou, 2006, p. xv). The permanent movement of people across country results in many important concerns and so much attention has been focused on immigrants (OECD, 2015a; Rose et al., 2011: Suarez-Orozco & Suarez-Orozco, 2006).

Nowadays the aspects of immigration have been the subject of the most heated debate. Immigration seems complex and its impact is felt in different ways in various settings, so it is difficult to make a generalization. Migration could bring both benefits and disadvantages. On the one hand immigrants can be considered a power in labour market and could contribute on economic outcomes. On the other hand, immigrants can cause of lowering wages and associated with crimes. How to deal with immigrants will decide its effect on the host country. Public policies have an important role to play in reducing the disadvantages of immigrants and integrated policies for immigration will change reverse its impact vice versa (OECD, 2015; United Nations, 2011).