Flexibility and ambiguity: impacts of temporariness of transnational mobility in the case of Turkey

Abstract

Although historically a country of emigration, over the last three decades, Turkey has turned into a country of destination and also of transit. With rising numbers of non-Turkish immigrants, this trend is in contrast to the early Republican years, when immigration was used as a nation-building tool and concerned exclusively people of Turkish origin (İçduygu and Aksel 2013). Following the consolidation of Turkey as a key factor in international transit migration, the academic and policy-related literature (Şanlıer Yüksel and İçduygu 2014a) has picked up on the concept of temporary migration during the last decade yet calls for clear definitions and more empirical data. The current state of research on temporary migration reveals that the categories relevant to Turkey are flows of labour (both regular and irregular), highly skilled individuals, refugees, asylum seekers, migrants in transit, students and lifestyle migrants.