Turkey as Migration Hub

Dual Citizenship and Other Forms of Legal Membership in the German-Turkish Transnational Space

Supervised by: Doç. Dr. Barbara Pusch

Duration: 2014–2015

Sponsored by: Mercator IPC Fellowship (link: http://ipc.sabanciuniv.edu/en/about_fellowship/)

Within the scope of this project, the legal integration possibilities of German citizens were examined for the “Turkish side” of the German-Turkish transnational space. Since the legal status of transnational migrants is always influenced by the laws of all the states in question, the analysis includes not only the changing immigration and naturalization legislation in Turkey, but also the corresponding new regulations in Germany. The research focus was placed on the issue of the legal membership of (1) dual citizens with permission to retain citizenship, (2) native dual citizens, (3) Mavi Kart (blue card) owners and (4) people with different types of alien status in Turkey.

The project was conceived as a multi-tier analysis and examined forms of legal membership on three different levels: (1) legal, (2) socio-political, and (3) in terms of the self-understanding of German citizens of Turkish origin and non-Turkish origin. The following questions were central to the research: (1) How did the legal framework develop? What are the underlying dynamics of the currently changing legal situation? (2) What are the predominant arguments in the public discourse on the various legal reforms in Germany and Turkey? What impact do these debates have on the various forms of legal membership in the transnational space between Germany and Turkey? (3) How do the above-mentioned four status groups—dual citizens with permission to retain citizenship, dual citizens due to the jus soli principle, Mavi Kart owners, and people with different types of alien status—evaluate their legal status and that of the other group? What are the motives for achieving various statuses? And, are the expectations of the status holders met? What are their everyday experiences with their respective status and how does this affect their transnational practice? What differences and similarities can be observed between the various status groups? And how they assess the reform process in both countries?

Let’s Go to Istanbul: On the Transnational Working and Living Environments of Highly Qualified German Citizens and Citizens with and without Turkish Migration Backgrounds in Istanbul

Supervised by: Doç. Dr. Barbara Pusch

Duration: 2010–2014

Until recently, the keywords “migration,” “Germany,” and “Turkey” were chiefly associated in Germany as well as in Turkey with the so-called guest workers in Germany. Much less attention has been paid to the counter-migration movement from Germany to Turkey. As a result, the migration realities of many groups, such as return migrants, highly qualified migrants of Turkish origin, and German citizens who move from Germany to Turkey, have gone largely unnoticed. The project investigates the flow of comparatively of highly qualified migrants, with or without a Turkish migration background, into Turkey. The research findings have been presented in a number of publications and lectures.

Offshoring and Re-Migration: Transnational Work and Life Environments on the Example of German-Turkish Call-Center Agents in Istanbul

Supervised by: Julia Splitt, MA (Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder))

Sponsored by: OII (doctoral scholarship, 1 Sept. 2013–28 Feb. 2014)

Turkey is a popular offshore location for companies from Germany. For about ten years, this has been increasingly true for call-center services. Istanbul, in particular, is home to several hundred call centers of German companies which employ German-Turkish workers. Using qualitative research methods such as participant observation and interviews, this dissertation takes an ethnographic approach to examining how transnational German-Turkish migration is intertwined with the effects of off-shoring call center work. The emphasis is on the call-center operators and their personal perceptions of their working and living environments, taking into account the relevant categories age, gender, nationality, circumstances of the migration into Turkey, and level of education. The aim of the project is to illuminate the contexts of this relational structure from the subjective perspective of the employees. It makes a contribution to clarifying the issue of transnational migration as well as the exploration of its potential in the economic and cultural relations between Germany and Turkey.

Interview Project: “50 Years of German-Turkish Migration Research: An Autobiographical Look Back and Forward from Prof. Dr. Nermin Abadan-Unat”

Supervised by: Doç. Dr. Barbara Pusch in collaboration with Julia Splitt

Duration: 2013–2014

Sponsored by: Friedrich Naumann Foundation—Turkey Office

The project deals with the fifty years of experience and memories of Prof. Dr. Nermin Abadan Unat in German-Turkish migration research. Already in 1963, Prof. Dr. Nermin Abadan Unat produced a groundbreaking study on German-Turkish migration, for which she was awarded inter alia the Bundesverdienstkreuz of the Federal Republic of Germany. The aim of the project was to record an informal history of German-Turkish migration research from the personal vantage point of Nermin Abadan Unat. The material of the project was developed by Doz. Dr. Barbara Pusch in 2013. The resulting interview volumes, 50 Jahre deutsch-türkische Migrationsforschung, are available in German and Turkish.

Pusch, Barbara; Sirkeci, Ibrahim (eds.). Turkish Migration Policy. London: Transnational Press 2016.

—-. “Legal Membership on the Turkish Side of the Transnational German-Turkish Space.” Ibrahim Sirkeci; Barbara Pusch (eds.). Turkish Migration Policy London: Transnational Press 2016. 205–225.

—-. (In)compatible Transnational Lives and National Laws: The Case of German Citizens in Turkey. Istanbul: IPC-Publication, February 2016.

—-; “German Retirement Tranquillity that the ‘Law on Foreigners and International Protection’ Cannot Protect”. Research and Policy on Turkey Centre for Policy and Research on Turkey, London, Research Turkey vol. IV, issue 10, 39-47 (http://researchturkey.org/?p=9845).

—-, Splitt, Julia (ed.). Türk-Alman Göç Araştırmalarının 50 Yılı. (Pera-Blätter 28). Max Weber Foundation Bonn 2015 http://www.perspectivia.net/publikationen/pera-blaetter/28/pusch-splitt_migrationsforschung

—-, Küppers, Almut; Uyan-Semerci, Pınar (eds.). Bildung in transnationalen Räumen. Education in Transnational Spaces. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2015.

—-. “Bursa’da Alman Olmak.” İdeal Kent. 14, 2014. 234–251.

—-, Splitt, Julia. “Migration ohne Ende—Ein Blick in die 50-jährige deutsch-türkische Migrationsforschung von und mit Prof. Dr. Nermin Abadan Unat.” Şeyda Ozil (ed.). Turkish-German Studies Yearbook, 2014. In der Welt der Proteste und Umwälzungen. Göttingen: V&R Unipress 2014. 127–152.

—-, Splitt, Julia (ed.). 50 Jahre deutsch-türkische Migrationsforschung. (Pera-Blätter 28). Max Weber Foundation Bonn 2014. (http://www.perspectivia.net/content/publikationen/pera-blaetter/28)

—-, Splitt, Julia. “Binding the Almancı to the ‘Homeland’—Notes from Turkey.” Perceptions—Journal of International Affairs 18/3, 2013. 129-166.

—-. “Karşı İstikametten Göç: Türkiye’deki Yüksek Vasıflı Alman Kadınlar.” Sosyoloji Dergisi. Özel Sayı: Göç. 27, 2013. 123–149.

—-. “Bordering the EU: Istanbul as a Hotspot for Transnational Migration”. Secil PacacI Elitok, Thomas Straubhaar, (ed.) Migration Potentials from/to Turkey. (HWWI Edition 5) Hamburg: Hamburg University Press 2012. 167-197.

—-. (ed.). Transnationale Migration am Beispiel Deutschland und Türkei. Wiesbaden: Springer VS 2012.

—-, Aydın, Yaşar. “Migration of Highly-Qualified Turks from Germany to Turkey: Socio-political Factors and Personal View Points”. International Journal of Business & Globalisation (Special Issue: Exploring Careers of Skilled Immigrants in the Middle East). 8/4, 2012. 471–490.

—-. “Familiäre Orientierungen und Arbeitsmarktintegration von hochqualifizierten MigrantInnen in Deutschland, Kanada und der Türkei.” Arnd-Michael Nohl; Karin Schittenhelm; Oliver Schmidtke; Anja White (eds.). Kulturelles Kapital in der Migration: Hochqualifizierte Einwanderer und Einwanderinnen auf dem Arbeitsmarkt. Wiesbaden: Springer VS 2010. 287–302.

—-, Ofner, Ulrike; Weiß, Anja. “Migrationsmotive und ihre Institutionalisierung durch die Ausländergesetzgebung.” Arnd-Michael Nohl; Karin Schittenhelm; Oliver Schmidtke; Anja White (eds.). Kulturelles Kapital in der Migration: Hochqualifizierte Einwanderer und Einwanderinnen auf dem Arbeitsmarkt. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2010. 197-210.

—-. “Vom Tellerwäscher zum Millionär? Arbeitsmarktpartizipation von AusländerInnen in der Türkei.” IMIS-Beiträge. 36 (2010). 119–138.

—-. “Zur Verwertung ausländischen Wissens und Könnens auf dem türkischen Arbeitsmarkt.” Arnd-Michael Nohl; Karin Schittenhelm; Oliver Schmidtke; Anja White (eds.). Kulturelles Kapital in der Migration: Hochqualifizierte Einwanderer und Einwanderinnen auf dem Arbeitsmarkt. Wiesbaden: Springer VS 2010. 83–94.

International Conference: Change of Perspective through Migration?

Supervised by: Prof. Dr. Raoul Motika and Prof. Dr. Hans-Georg Soeffner

Event date: 5–6 May 2015

Main collaborator: Forum Internationale Wissenschaft at Universität Bonn

Sponsored by: German Research Foundation

The conference “Change of Perspective through Migration?” was planned as a follow-up conference to the international conference in October 2014 in Istanbul on German-Turkish exchange processes and as part of the German-Turkish Science Year. More than the first conference, its substantive focus lay on issues specifically relevant to Germany. Alongside the migration and integration dynamics, it also addressed various migration-related legal issues.

International Conference: Modernization through Migration?

Supervised by: Doç. Dr. Barbara Pusch, Prof. Dr. Raoul Motika, and Prof. Dr. Hans-Georg Soeffner

Event date: 22–24 Oct. 2014

Main collaborator: Bahçeşehir Üniversitesi Istanbul, Forum Internationale Wissenschaft at Universität Bonn

Sponsored by: German Research Foundation

This international conference of the Orient-Institut Istanbul took place in Istanbul on the occasion of the German-Turkish Science Year and in cooperation with the Forum Internationale Wissenschaft (FIW) at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn and Bahcesehir University. Besides topics concerning the change in German-Turkish migration flows over the last fifty years, the conference mainly dealt with cultural, economic, and religious exchange processes.

International Workshop: The Central Asian Migrant Experience in Turkey and Russia: Comparing Political Subjectivities, Diaspora Politics and Citizen-State Relations

Supervised by: Dr. Susan Rottmann in cooperation with Doç. Dr. Barbara Pusch

Event date: 15–17 Jan. 2014

Main collaborator: Boğaziçi University

This international workshop was held in cooperation with Boğaziçi University. The focus of the workshop was to compare the biographical migration experiences and legal localizations of Central Asian migrants in Russia and Turkey.

International Conference: Educational Institutions in the German-Turkish Transnational Space

Supervised by: Dr. Barbara Pusch and Dr. Almut Küppers

Event date: 11–12 Oct. 2013

Main collaborator: Istanbul Bilgi University (Göç Çalışmaları Uygulama ve Araştırma Merkezi)

Sponsored by: Fritz Thyssen Foundation, Goethe-Institut Istanbul

International conference of the OII in cooperation with the Migration Research Centre of Istanbul Bilgi University, Universität Frankfurt, Universität Potsdam, and the Goethe-Institut Istanbul and with financial support from the Fritz Thyssen Foundation. The findings of the conference will be published by Springer VS Verlag.

Lecture series at the Orient-Institut Istanbul: Life as Caravanserai: Facets of German-Turkish Migration I and II

Supervised by: Dr. Barbara Pusch

Event date: Spring 2013–Fall 2013

The lecture series was dedicated to the multifaceted German-Turkish migration flows. The title of the series was inspired by Emine Sevgi Özdamar’s novel “Life is a Caravanserai: Has Two Doors I Came in One I Went Out the Other.” The term “caravanserai” here stands for transnationalism—for an understanding of migration as a process of continuous human movement, for the various stages in the migration process, and for numerous cultural, economic, and social transfers. The presentations of the series addressed individual aspects and stages of these German-Turkish connections and elucidated them from the perspective of different social-scientific disciplines.

International Conference: Transnational Migration on the Example of Germany and Turkey

Supervised by: Dr. Barbara Pusch

Event date: 10.30.–11.02.2011

Main collaborator: Istanbul Bilgi University (Göç Çalışmaları Uygulama ve Araştırma Merkezi)

Sponsored by: Fritz Thyssen Foundation, Goethe-Institute Istanbul

The conference was organized on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the German-Turkish recruitment agreement with financial support from the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and in cooperation with the Migration Research Institute at Istanbul Bilgi University and the Goethe-Institut Istanbul. The conference proceedings were published by Springer VS-Verlag.

Julia Splitt (1.9.2013 – 28.2.2014)

Offshoring und ‚Re‘-Migration: Transnationale Arbeits- und Lebenswelten am Beispiel deutsch-türkischer Callcenter-Agents in Istanbul

Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)