WP2 Turkey: Country Report - İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi | AB Enstitüsü

Social Impact of Emigration and Rural-Urban Migration in Central and Eastern Europe
VT/2010/001
Quite a number of Arab origin Turkish citizens also left Turkey to work abroad in the 1960s
and 1970s. Arabs mostly migrated to the big cities like Istanbul in 1950s and 1960s to take
part in the trading segments of the cities such. The remaining parts of the Arab population
also preferred to go to the big cities (Istanbul, İzmir, Mersin, Gaziantep and Adana) since the
1980s following their predecessors due to their demographic disadvantage vis-a-vis the
Kurds. Fahri Aral, the chief editor of Istanbul Bilgi University Press, claims that the main
survival strategy of the Arabs in the urban space was rather to assimilate into the
mainstream Turkish culture and to identify themselves as Turkish (personal interview with
Fahri Aral, 10 August, 2011).
Alevis: Most of the Alevis are of Turkoman origin. The Alevi population is divided into four
categories on the basis of the language they speak. The total population of Alevis living in
Turkey is approximately 12 million, consisting of: 1) Alevis who speak the Azerbaijani dialect
of Turkish. Their religious belief and practice is similar to the Shia religion in Iran. They live in
Kars and constitute a small number of the population; 2) Alevis who speak Arabic (see
above). Arab Alevis originate from the Nusayri community in Syria and live around Mersin,
Adana and Antakya. They have no historical affiliation with other Alevis in Turkey and are
different from them in identifying themselves with the Alevi identity prior to the Turkish
identity; 3) Alevis who speak Turkish. This is the most influential and largest group. Although
they are of Turkoman ethnic origin, they have the strongest sentiment of being a religious
minority; and 4) Alevis who speak Zaza and Kurdish. The population of this group numbers
nearly three million. It is also known that 25% of the Kurdish population are Alevi. They form
a minority within the Alevi- and Kurdish-origin populations. There are several different groups
of Alevis in the diaspora, mostly in Germany, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands. It is
known that Alevi political mobilisation in Turkey owes a lot to the Alevis in diaspora (Kaya,
2009).
It is also known that Alevis are subject to ongoing discrimination in the labour market,
education and public services. There are several groups of Alevis in the big cities, who
migrated from the rural areas since the 1960s. Like Kurds, Alevis also constitute a kind of
ethno-class in big cities, taking certain occupation mostly in the informal sectors such as
construction. Alevis now challenge the Turkish state with regard to the compulsory religion
and ethics courses taught in primary and secondary schools, because they believe that
these courses are designed to simply promote Sunni Islam. In general Moslem religious
minorities, such as the Alevis, seem to have less legal protection of their rights than non-
Moslem groups. A major concern is the lack of will or ability on the part of the Turkish
authorities to protect Alevis from harassment and other forms of abuse by Sunni extremists
(Karimova and Deverel, 2001).
Balkan and Caucasian Muslims: Bosnians, Torbes, Pomaks and Albanians are ethnic
minority people who originate from the Slavic Muslims and come from the Balkans and the
Caucasus. Roma people who come from the same region at an unknown date can also be
added to this group. Georgians are an ethnic minority group who come from the Caucasus.
There are no certain findings proving that the Laz community comes from this region.
Circassians and Georgians fled from Russia and migrated to Anatolia in the 19 th century. It
has been claimed that the number of the Circassians is around 2.5 million, and they speak
the Adige language. Whereas the Balkan migrants do not have a particular consciousness of
forming an ethnic minority, Circassians began to develop a separate identity in the 2000s
with their cuisine, the declarations they publish in newspapers with regard to the conflicts in
the Caucasus, the newspapers and magazines they publish such as Çveneburi, Pirosmani,
Nart, Jineps and Ogni, and the Caucasian associations they establish (Kaya, 2005, 2011).
Quite a number of Circassians also emigrated to European countries in the 1960s and
1970s.
After the dissolution of the USSR, hundreds of families returned to their homeland in the
North Caucasus, and now they constitute a transnational space linking Turkey and the
homeland. Trade, economics, politics and cultural linkages in the transnational space have
become intensified in the last decade (Kaya, 2011).
Final Country Report Turkey 24