turkmen in iraq and their flight - orsam

TURKMEN IN IRAQ AND THEIR FLIGHT: A DEMOCRAPHIC QUESTION
the reason for migration was not primarily to
find job or earn money but conflict, war, terror
and fear of persecution. As a rule of thumb, the
readers should yet inspect these figures with
caution as there were no means to test the representativeness
of the sample we have used in
this survey.
Irregular Migration
Type of migration for Iraqi Turkmen was not
so different than their contemporary migrant
fellows all around the world: They had to find a
way to flee Iraq, a war zone. Thus they have often
crossed borders without necessary papers
and permissions. 50% of Turkmen have entered
their country of destination without a visa. This
could be potentially the highest proportion of
illegal migration recorded in migration studies
literature. As shown in Figure 22, another 17%
of Turkmen entered their destinations on tourist
visas and then they overstayed. This can also
be added to the irregular migration tally. Then
only a third of Turkmen migrants followed a
legal pathway entering their destination countries
on visas or permits allowing them to stay
as residents or temporary residents (33%).
Of course, we are not in a position to blame
Iraqi Turkmen for illegal migration. Like their
fellow migrants in other parts of the world,
when there were no regular ways to migrate
available, they had to improvise and find a way
to get out of Iraq.
Figure 21: Changes in Employment: Before and After Migration
Information about Destinations and Composition
of Migrant Groups
Migrants are often targeting countries about
which they have some information. Familiarity
helps in the journey and in the aftermath.
Only in desperate situations, such as sudden
attacks or in reaction to natural hazards, people
flee to wherever they can reach and get
access to. 39% of Iraqi Turkmen had no information
about the country where they migrated
prior to their move. Job opportunities
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