Abstract
The phenomenon of migration appears as an incontrovertible reality of social life today as it was in the past. While social, cultural, political, economic, etc. factors constitute the causes of migration, they are seen as the psycho-social dynamics most affected by migration. In this study, the narratives regarding the migration process of the Balkan immigrants living in Samsun were evaluated from a social psychological perspective in the context of the post-migration adaptation process. The narratives of the Balkan immigrants were examined in depth using thematic analysis method. As a result of the analysis, the narratives were evaluated within the framework of the themes of “basic needs,” “cultural characteristics,” and “acculturation.” It has been determined that with the effect of features such as cultural similarities, sense of belonging, empathy, and cooperation, Balkan immigrants mostly do not experience problems in the adaptation process relatively different from other migration processes.
TopIntroduction
Almost every country in the world has been affected by immigration. The issue of migration is on the agenda not only in the countries receiving immigration, but also in all geographies where globalization is felt or intensely experienced. Especially in the second half of the 20th century, mass population movements took place and the immigrant population has increased rapidly in the last half century (R.o.Tr. General Directorate of Migration Management, 2017). According to the data of The UN Refugee Agency for 2021, 82.4 million people around the world had to migrate forcibly (The UN Refugee Agency, 2021).
Like many countries in the world, Turkey has been affected by migration movements throughout history and has hosted many immigrants. According to the 2016 Turkey Migration Report, Anatolian geography opened its doors to a large number of immigrants between 1492 and 1922. Arrival of approximately 1 million 185 thousand people from Greece, the Balkans and Germany during the republic period, between 1922-1945; and also approximately 900 thousand people from Iraq, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Kosovo to Turkey between 1988 and 2000 is among the most concrete examples of Turkey's migration history (R.o.Tr. General Directorate of Migration Management, 2017). According to United Nations Refugee Agency 2021 data, in 2020 Turkey hosted more than 3.6 million people, mostly Syrians (The UN Refugee Agency, 2021; McAuliffe, & Triandafyllidou, 2021). According to the international migration statistics for 2019 published by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT) on July 17, 2020, of the foreign nationals who came to Turkey in 2019 are 14.5% Iraqi, 13.8% Turkmenistan, 8.2% Afghanistan, 7.5% Syria and 7.3% Iranian citizens (Turkish Statistical Institute, 2019).
As it can be understood from the data on international migration, some of the immigrants hosted by Turkey are Balkan immigrants. Since the end of the nineteenth century, there has been an intense migration movement from the Balkans to Anatolia and this migration movement continued in the republic period. Between 1923 and 1938, there was a migration to Turkey from Balkan countries such as Bulgaria, Romania and Yugoslavia (Duman, 2009). These migration movements have turned into mass migration as a result of the Turks' desire to return to their homeland due to the pressure, persecution and assimilation they have been subjected to in Balkan countries such as Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Romania where Turks live intensely. Therewithal, it is seen that the resettlement policies of the Turkish state and the policy of increasing the population by bringing Turks living in the Balkans to Turkey are effective in this regard (Aksoy, 2016). It is seen that 1.204.205 people who immigrated from the Balkans to Turkey between 1923 and 1960 were composed of immigrants, refugees and exchanged people. During the said period 407.788 people of which 384.000 “Exchanged” were from Greece; 374.478 people from Bulgaria; 269.101 people from Yugoslavia-Macedonia and 121.351 people from Romania immigrated to Turkey (Geray, 1962). These immigrants were settled in the low-density regions of Thrace and Anatolia for reasons such as security, population policy, opening the idle lands to production and contributing to the economy within the scope of the settlement policy. All the problems of immigrants, especially sheltering, were tried to be solved by the state and necessary measures were taken to help them become producers (Duman, 2009).
All migrations, including migrations from the Balkans to Turkey, are at the center of international debates today, as in the historical process (Mbaye, 2017). The phenomenon of migration, which has a multidimensional feature (Bauloz, Vathi, & Acosta, 2019) and expresses a complex process that covers large time (Landau, 2017) is a dynamic process that has short- and long-term effects on both immigrant individuals and groups and the receiving societies (Dovidio, & Esses, 2001). In other words, all countries are affected by immigration in a positive or negative way. Among the positive effects of migration, the improvement of the economic conditions of the immigrants and the economic development of the receiving countries can be shown. Among the negative effects of migration are the loss of qualified citizens due to brain drain for the sending countries; for the countries that receive immigration, there are conflicts due to reasons such as ethnic origin and religious belief differences (Sam, & Berry, 2006).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Acculturation: The processes by which individuals or groups adjust the social and cultural values, ideas, beliefs, and behavioral patterns of their culture of origin to those of a different culture.
Discrimination: Differential treatment of different racial, ethnic, age, sex, or other groups. Discrimination is the behavioral manifestation of prejudice. Involves negative and hostile treatment of the members of rejected groups.
Acculturative Stress: Stress caused among migrants by having to deal with a culture different than one’s own.
Prejudice: A set of negative attitudes and beliefs toward another person or group which ignores within-group diversity and is resistant to contrary evidence.
Integration: Integration refers to a pattern of cultural change in which an individual engages with a new cultural group and adopts its characteristics while maintaining a strong connection to the original cultural group.
In-Group: Any group to which one belongs, which contrasts with other groups toward whom one tends to feel superior or competitive.
Social Adaptation: The adjustment of individual and group behavior to conform with the prevailing system of norms and values in a given society, class, or social group. Also includes friendly or cooperative relations among people or groups.
Out-Group: Any social group which an individual identifies as one to which he/she does not belong. Out-group is usually judged as inferior to the social group with which one identifies one’s self.