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.