Turks Abroad: in its 50th Year

The migration of Turks to foreign countries within over half a century and in this context, the current situation, the advantages, problems, expectations and strategies about the future will be evaluated within a multilateral framework during "Turks Abroad: The Symposium on Migration and Integration in its 50th Year", which is going to be realized under the auspices of H. E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, both by the Ministry of State (H. E. Faruk ÇELİK), responsible for the coordination of the issues related to the expatriate citizens of the Republic of Turkey, and Hacettepe University Strategical Research Centre (HÜSAM). It is expected that high level relevant authorities and experts of the matter will participate in the symposium to be held between the 21st and 23rd of May 2009 in Ankara (Bilkent Hotel & Conference Center). The symposium, which focuses on Turkish emigrants by adopting a solution-oriented approach, aims primarily to treat the issue with all its aspects, to discuss present and/or potential problems in a way enabling contribution to all the parties and to assess the proposed solutions. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has a particular interest in the symposium as the concept of migration and integration is a multilateral and international case. Within this framework, the IOM is actively cooperating in the symposium in order to evaluate the international and global aspect of the issue.

As required by the fact that migration and integration constitute a concept which is based on multilateral and mutual interaction, representatives of international organizations and institutions, high-level politicians and bureaucrats from countries where Turks are densely-populated, experts, representatives of non-governmental organizations as well as Turkish citizens who had outstanding achievements in their fields are invited to the symposium. Special emphasis has been attributed to provide a wide diversity of the participants, representing all of the different points of view about the topics to be discussed.

In addition to the plenary and closing sessions, there will be panels each with 3 speakers, to discuss different aspects of migration and integration issues. Simultaneous translation will be provided in Turkish, English and German. The documents to be presented to the symposium will be published in these three languages to ensure that the views and assessments involved in the process will be available to the public.

Migration, which is a reflection of people’s search for a better life, is a multilateral process involving multiple actors. The main actors of this process are individuals, the countries (“motherland”) from which the migration takes place and the countries receiving the migration. The phenomenon of migration has important social, cultural, emotional, economic, political and legal consequences regarding these three main actors. It is a fact that migration, which is experienced around the world, is widespreading day by day through developments in transportation and communication technology as well as needs aroused by global economy. While the matter of emigrants and integration is being discussed as a “problem” in many industrialized countries, it is a known fact that the demand in foreign labour force will continue to increase due to demographic reasons. Considering this particular need and their half a century old experience, the receiving countries feel compelled to develop new migration policies. These policies are being discussed not only on national basis but also on the international platforms. The characteristic of migration and integration as a global phenomenon, gaining importance day by day, will also be discussed along with the other topics of the symposium.

The migration of Turks to foreign countries started with individual departures in the late 50’s and has intensified following the conclusion of bilateral labour force agreement with Federal Germany in 1961. Agreements with Austria, Belgium, France, Holland, Sweden, Switzerland, England and Australia, providing a legal basis for migration, followed the German example. As a consequence of these agreements signed during the early 70’s, a rapid movement of migration was observed. Following first oil crisis, the migration movements displayed a sharp decline which later came to null, except the family reunification cases.

At first, the migration of Turks to abroad as labour force was not expected to be so intense. It has become a complex problem by time, when it was realized that emigrants are not just blue-collar workers for factories, mines and construction sites. From the 80’s onwards, the Turkish emigrants, who had already reached big numbers, started to catch the attention of the publics of the receiving countries. The irony of Max Frisch, who told about the drama of the Turkish emigrants by the phrase “We asked for workers but the Turks have sent us people!” is also a striking expression of how long the social aspect of the issue has been ignored by the parties. It is striking that a clear majority of our emigrants, whose current population is more than five million and who reconstruct their lives in this way, are seeking citizenship of the countries in which they currently live and that about 50 percent of them even was born in these countries. The contributions of Turkish emigrants, to the receiving states as well as their problems have gone through changes in time. However, despite all the deficiencies and difficulties they experience, some Turkish emigrants participate successfully in the society with their achievements in economy, science, art, sports and other fields and they enrich these countries. To keep our hopes strong for the future and to support the efforts for overcoming problems, part of which are highly important and complex, we should not ignore the present success stories. This will also contribute positively to strengthen both parties. An important goal of the symposium is to develop policies of integration, which will enhance this wealth and contribution.

Emigrants are undoubtedly an advantage for the countries they live in, as well as Turkey, considering their active participation in the countries they live, their self-improvement and their achievements in the economic, social and political fields. In this sense, it is obvious that integration is a common point of interest for all parties and that a cooperative and well-intentioned effort, removed from mutual fears and concerns, is required to prevent it from becoming a "problem".

Following the end of the bipolar world era, particularly after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the addressing of migration and integration with religious-cultural characteristics has become an undeniable reality. “Islamophobia”, which has been displayed in the form of violence-terror as well as fear in cultural terms, constitutes a base for development of various discriminative policies towards Muslim emigrants. What is more alarming is that discriminative policies do not meet enough resistance and even find support occasionally in these countries where individual rights and freedoms are regarded as fundamental values. However, rather than discriminatory ones, embracing policies towards emigrants by encouraging them to become participants, valuing their ideas and allowing them to enjoy their cultures, should be accepted as principle indicators of an honest desire of integration. It is clearly obvious that integration of emigrants will be beneficial primarily for receiving countries. In this context, considering emigrants as an advantage and richness rather than a threat, can be assumed as the key to integration for both sides. The methods and ways of considering the role of the emigrants in the integration process, not only as a passive object but also as an active subject and a constructive element, are among the most important issues of the symposium.

Particularly in recent years, it is frequently seen that “Turks” or “Turkey” become subjects of intensive political discussions in Western European countries where Turkish emigrants are densely populated. It is also witnessed that these discussions, which intensify before and during election campaigns, have a particular focus on Turkey-European Union relations. The political, social and emotional consequences of this situation and its effects on the integration process will also be discussed in the symposium.

Another important issue to be discussed in the symposium is the new approaches towards migration and integration. Today, while new migration policies are incorporated into national legislations, these policies are discussed on international platforms like the Global Forum on Migration, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EUROMED) and the Barcelona Process. In this context, also considering the global dimension of the “Problems of Emigrants and Integration”, high-level authorities from international organizations such as OSCE, ILO, the European Court of Justice, the European Council, OECD as well as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) will participate in the symposium. Thus, their contributions will ensure that the potential impact of these approaches on the source and destination countries and emigrants will be discussed, by analyzing the issue within the framework of new developments and projections as well as international immigration law.

The development of solution-oriented policies, emphasizing that integration is an advantage for all the three actors of migration, requires an intensive cooperation between sending and receiving countries. In this regard, the importance of Turkey’s present and future role in the integration of emigrants will also be discussed in the symposium.

Mother tongue education, religious education and other related educational issues, employment, labourer rights, citizenship and other political rights, policies particularly towards unemployed emigrant women, problems in financial and economic activities and the role of non-governmental organizations and media will also be widely discussed during the symposium..

During “Turks Abroad: The Symposium on Migration and integration in its 50th Year”, the aim is to contribute to the process through a solution-oriented approach with the participation of all the parties of the issue, by seeking answers to questions some of which are presented below:

• What is the current situation of Turkish emigrants after a process that lasted for half a century?
• Considering that integration is a multilateral process, what are the basic responsibilities of the relevant actors?
• What is the importance of citizenship rights of emigrants and dual citizenship in particular in the integration process and what kind of role can it play?
• What are the problems encountered in accordance with the rights of emigrants?
• After the attacks of 9/11, to what extent did the prejudices towards Muslims affect the lives of emigrants?
• How does Islamophobia affect the regulations and implementations related to the integration of emigrants?
• How can we fight against the use of anti-emigrant tendencies as a political instrument?
• In what framework, should the concept of multiculturalism be assessed within the integration process?
• What kind of strategies could be developed in order to encourage emigrants to be more participative?
• How can we prevent emigrants from feeling excluded from the society in which they live?
• What is the role and responsibility of the elements (media, civil society etc) interacting with the main actors?
• How can mother tongue education contribute to the integration process of emigrants?
• What role do emigrant women play within the integration process?
• What policies should be developed towards education of emigrant children and adults?
• What measures can be taken towards Turkish emigrant students who leave school before completing their education?
• What contribution can be made by and what method can be used to spread professional education among young Turkish emigrants?
• What measures can be taken to avoid discriminative implementations?
• How can religious education and services be reorganized within the integration process?
• What problems do Turkish emigrants experience concerning labour rights?
• What are new integration policies and models in the light of the new developments?
• What is the role of Turkey-EU relations on the integration process of emigrants?