Skip to main content

Getting Adapted? A Comparative Study of Qualified Turkish Return Migrants from Germany and the USA

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Europe in a Global Context ((EGC))

Abstract

When we consider the international migration history of Turkey, we see the key position of the immigration of worker migrants to Germany that has been going on since the 1960s. Due to the waves of migration from Turkey to Europe, and especially to Germany, Turks now form one of the largest minority groups living in Western Europe who have migrated from outside of the European Union (EU) region (Sirkeci 2002: 9). As a consequence, beginning from the first period of migration, Turkish migration to Germany has been a subject that social scientists have intensively analyzed. However, most studies have focused on guest workers and there have been a limited number of studies looking at the case of qualified migrants from Turkey to Germany. Academic interest is limited not only to the migration of the qualified migrants to Germany but also in return migration. To date, there are only a few studies on return migration and they mostly try to understand under what conditions and situations guest workers return to Turkey, with only a couple studying the return migration experiences of Turkish skilled professionals.

This research is supported by TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) Grant 1001, Project No.: 114K685. Meltem Yilmaz Sener is the Principle Investigator for the Project.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

  • Acehan, I. (2005). Outposts of an empire: Early Turkish migration to Peabody, Massachusetts. Master’s thesis submitted to the Department of History, Bilkent University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahmed, F. (1993). Turks in America: The Ottoman Turk’s immigrant experience. Greenwich: Columbia International Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Akçapar, Ş. K. (2005). Turkish highly skilled migration to the United States: New findings and policy recommendations. Koç University Migration Research Program (Mirekoç) Research Project.

    Google Scholar 

  • Akçapar, Ş. K. (2006). Do Brains really going down the Drain? Revue européenne des migrations internationales, 22(3), 79107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Akçapar, Ş. K. (2009). Turkish highly skilled migration to the United States: New findings and policy recommendations. In A. İçduygu & K. Kirişci (Eds.), Land of diverse migrations, challenges of emigration and immigration in Turkey. Istanbul: Istanbul Bilgi University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Akçapar, Ş. K. (2012). Beyond Turkey’s borders: Long-distance kemalism, state politics and the Turkish diaspora. Diaspora Studies, 5(2), 224–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Akçapar, Ş. K., & Yurdakul, G. (2009). Turkish identity formation and political mobilization in Western Europe and North America. Turkish Studies, 10(2), 139–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Angın, Z. (2003). Diasporas of difference: Turkish communities in Germany, Canada, and the United States. Doctoral dissertation, Colorado State University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayhan, H. Ö. (2000). Push and pull factors of international migration: Country report, Turkey. European Commission, Statistical Office of the European Communities.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassarino, J. P. (2004). Theorising return migration: The conceptual approach to return migrants revisited. International Journal on Multicultural Societies (IJMS), 6(2), 253–279.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castles, S., & Kosack, G. (1973). Immigrant workers and class structure in Western Europe. London: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cerase, F. P. (1974). Expectations and reality: A case study of return migration from the United States to Southern Italy. International Migration Review, 8(2), 245–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erbaş, S. (1997). EU-Bürger in der Türkei: Stand und Perspektiven-Unter besonderer Berücksictigung der Situation der deutschen Staatsbürger. In H. Gümrükçü, U. Neumann, & W.-R. Felsch (Eds.), ITES-Jahrbuch 1997–1998: Bikulturalitat-staatliches Handeln-Mensch, Schriften des Instituts für Türkisch-Europaische Studien (Vol. 7, pp. 119–134). Hamburg: Institut für Türkisch-Europäische Studien.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gmelch, G. (1980). Return migration. Annual Review of Anthropology, 9, 135–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grabowski, J. J. (2000). Cumhuriyetçi Algılayışlar: Time ve Gülcemal, Toplumsal Tarih, 10–117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grabowski, J. J. (2005). Prospects and challenges: The study of early Turkish immigration to the United States. Journal of American Ethnic History, 25(1), 85–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guzzetta, C. (2004). Return migration. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Services, 2(1–2), 109–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hecker, P. (2006). Turkey country profile. Focus Migration, 5. Hamburg Institute for International Economics (HWWI).

    Google Scholar 

  • İçduygu, A. (2008). Circular migration and Turkey: An overview of the past and present—Some demo-economic implications. CARIM Analytic and Synthetic Notes 2008/10.

    Google Scholar 

  • İçduygu, A. (2009). International migration and human development in Turkey. United Nations Development Programme Human Development Reports Research Paper, 52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser, B. (2003). Lifeworlds of EU-immigrants in Turkey. In E. Zeybekoğlu & B. Johansson (Eds.), Migration and labor in Europe: Views from Turkey and Sweden (pp. 269–289). İstanbul: Marmara University Research Center for International Relations (MURCIR) and Swedish National Institute for Working Life (NIWL).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser, B. (2004). Social life-worlds of German migrants in Turkey: The ‘other side’ of Turkish German transnational space. In T. Faist & E. Özveren (Eds.), Transnational social spaces: Agents, networks and institutions (pp. 91–110). Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karpat, K. H. (1985). The Ottoman emigration to America, 1860–1914. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 17(2), 175–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaya, İ. (2004). Turkish-American immigration history and identity formations. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 24(2), 295–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King, R., & Christou, A. (2010). Cultural geographies of counter-diasporic migration: Perspectives from the study of second-generation ‘returnees’ to Greece. Population, Space and Place, 16(2), 1–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levitt, P. (2009). Roots and routes: Understanding the lives of the second generation transnationally. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 35(7), 1225–1242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paine, S. (1974). Exporting workers: The Turkish case (No. 41). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Migration Studies, 31(4), 719–739.

    Google Scholar 

  • Razum, O., Sahin-Hodoglugil, N. N., & Polit, K. (2005). Health, wealth or family ties? Why Turkish work migrants return from Germany. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 31(4), 719–739.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rittersberg-Tılıç, H., Özen, Y., & ve Çelik, K. (2012). Geriye Göçün Dinamikleri: Almanya’dan ‘Ev’e Dönüş. In S. Gülfer Ihlamur-Öner & N. Aslı Şirin Öner (Eds.), Küreselleşme Çağında Göç: Kavramlar, Tartışmalar (pp. 287–307). İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saatci, M. (2003). Turkish immigrants in the United States: Historical and cultural origins. Doctoral dissertation, State University of New York at Binghamton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sayarı, S. (1986). Migration policies of sending countries. Annals, 485, 87–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Şenyürekli, A. R., & Menjivar, C. (2012). Turkish immigrants’ hopes and fears around return migration. International Migration, 50(1), 3–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simsek, M. (2011). Opinions of the Turkish postgraduates in the United States regarding return to Turkey: An analysis in terms of brain drain. Journal of Academic Research in Economics, 3(1), 89–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sirkeci, İ. (2002). Revisiting the Turkish migration to Germany after forty years. Siirtolaisuus-Migration, 29(2), 9–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, J., & Edmonston, B. (Eds.). (1997). The new Americans. Washington: National Academy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Unver, C. (2010). Turkiye’nin Goc Siyasetinin Temel Ilkelerine Iliskin Yeni Yaklasimlar. Retrieved from http://www.turksam.org/tr/a2019.html

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Yilmaz Şener, M., Elitok, S.P. (2018). Getting Adapted? A Comparative Study of Qualified Turkish Return Migrants from Germany and the USA. In: Caselli, M., Gilardoni, G. (eds) Globalization, Supranational Dynamics and Local Experiences . Europe in a Global Context. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64075-4_13

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64075-4_13

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-64074-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-64075-4

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics