Immigration, Residential Segregation and Integration: An Assessment for Turkish Cities
Ertuğrul Murat ÖzgürResearch on segregation focuses on immigrants because of societal concerns that segregation may hamper the integration process, leaving newcomers excluded from the wider society. Although the spatial segregation of ethnocultural groups in Turkish cities has not attracted much attention, the refugee flows, especially incurred by the war in Syria, have added a new dimension to the spatial segregation pattern. This review article aims to contribute to political and academic debates on spatial segregation in Turkish cities. This article is based on the analysis of scientific studies and media news coverage of immigrant and refugee residential segregation in Turkish cities. Poverty, intra-group social capital use, solidarity and support, the desire to maintain common cultural norms and practices, and proximity to possible job opportunities impact immigrant and refugee residential segregation in Turkish cities. However, recently, exclusion and discrimination have also been causes of segregation. Refugee enclaves have been built in Turkish cities by the Syrians. The emergence of ethnic initiatives, an ethnic enclave economy in immigrant neighborhoods, and throughout their immediate vicinity in Turkish cities, all serve the needs of immigrants and create employment opportunities for the community members.
Göç, İkametgâh Ayrışması ve Entegrasyon: Türk Kentleri İçin Bir Değerlendirme
Ertuğrul Murat ÖzgürAyrışmanın entegrasyon sürecini engelleyeceğine ve yeni gelenlerin toplumla entegre olamayacağına ilişkin olarak toplumdaki kaygılar yüzünden ayrışma/ konsantrasyon üzerine yapılan araştırmalar, göçmenleri ele almaktadır. Daha önceleri Türk kentlerinde etno-kültürel grupların mekânsal ayrışmaları fazlaca dikkat çekmezken, özellikle Suriye’deki savaş ile gerçekleşen mülteci akışları, kentsel mekânsal ayrışma paternine yeni bir boyut katmıştır. Bu derleme makalesi, Türk kentlerindeki mekânsal ayrışmaya ilişkin politik ve akademik tartışmalara coğrafi perspektiften katkı sağlamayı amaçlamaktadır. Çalışma, Türkiye kentlerindeki göçmen/mülteci ikametgâh ayrışmasına ilişkin, makaleler, tezler, raporlar gibi bilimsel çalışmaların ve medya haberlerinin analizine dayanmaktadır. Türkiye kentlerindeki göçmen/mülteci ikametgah ayrışmasında, yoksullukla birleşen, grup içi sosyal sermaye kullanımı ve karşılıklı dayanışma-destek sağlama, ortak kültürel normları ve pratikleri sürdürme isteği ve olası iş fırsatlarına yakınlık öne çıkmaktadır. Ancak son zamanlarda dışlama ve ayrımcılık da ayrışma nedenleri arasına girmiştir. Daha şimdiden Türkiye kentlerinde Suriyeliler tarafından mülteci anklavları, mülteci ulusötesi mekânları inşa edilmiştir. Türkiye kentlerinde, göçmen mahallelerinde ve yakın çevresinde göçmen grubunun ihtiyaçlarına yönelik faaliyette bulunan, aynı zamanda grubun üyelerine istihdam alanı yaratan etnik girişimlerin ve bir etnik anklav ekonomisinin ortaya çıkışı dikkat çekicidir. Çalışma, Türk kentlerinde farklı grupların ikametgâh ayrışmasının hem bireysel faktörler ve gelişmeler hem de bağlamsal faktörler açısından incelenmesi gerektiğine vurgu yapmaktadır.
Research on segregation and concentration focuses on immigrants and minority groups because of societal concerns that segregation may hamper the integration process, leaving newcomers unable to integrate with the society. The residential segregation of new migrants and refugees has become an extremely sensitive and politicized issue for many nation-states. Despite the evidence of the positive and negative effects of ethnic concentration in the literature, the view in western political circles is largely negative.
In recent years, Turkey has become a transit and destination country for migrants and refugees. Furthermore, following the 2011 Humanitarian Crisis in Syria, Turkey also became a destination for refugees. In the new millennium, regular and irregular migration to Turkey has increased and has become more ethnoculturally diverse. Although the spatial segregation of ethnocultural groups in Turkish cities has not attracted much attention, the refugee flows, especially incurred by the war in Syria, have added a new dimension to the urban spatial segregation pattern. Immigrants and refugees have a tendency to experience socio-spatial segregation or congregation in specific neighborhoods inside the cities where they are presently concentrated and show an uneven geographic distribution.
Immigrant and refugee residential segregation, which is relatively new for Turkey, has not received much attention so far from Turkish academic and political circles. This review article aims to contribute to the political and academic debates on spatial segregation in Turkish cities to draw more attention to this important issue and evaluate the available information on segregation, which may be beneficial in several areas. This article is based on an analysis of scientific studies and media news coverage of immigrant and refugee residential segregation in Turkish cities, such as some districts of Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Gaziantep, Hatay, and Adana.
The findings of the article indicate that as the number of refugees and immigrants and group diversity increases, a new and different type of residential segregation emerges in Turkish cities, with this trend being particularly evident among Syrian refugees in large cities.
Poverty, intra-group social capital use, solidarity and mutual support, the desire to maintain common cultural norms and practices, and proximity to possible job opportunities influence immigrant and refugee residential segregation in Turkish cities. However, recently, the exclusion of and discrimination against Syrian refugees caused by the attitudes and reactions of the local people in some cities and the security concerns of the refugees regarding the perception of hostility and potential physical harm from the local people have also contributed to segregation.
Immigrants and refugees generally prefer dilapidated urban areas, slums, and urban transformation areas, which have been abandoned by the locals or where poor people live, as their place of residence. The financial difficulties encountered when living in urban areas, including the need to find cheap housing, lead immigrants to gather in such neighborhoods and to live in unsanitary conditions in small houses as a large group. These neighborhoods carry the risk of turning into poverty breeding grounds. Poor immigrants are less involved in the social life of Turkey because of their social isolation and the tendency to maintain the lifestyle of their society of origin. Therefore, their neighborhoods become increasingly marginal in parallel with declining social acceptance. This leads the immigrant community to withdraw into itself and to have difficulties adapting because of the stigmatization of their neighborhood. In turn, this stigmatization fuels a lack of empathy in other city residents.
Refugee enclaves have already been built in Turkish cities by the Syrians. Syrians, who assign a meaning to the places they reside by establishing location-specific relations, are tied to these places. They shape their dual identity by living in these new spaces. Syrian refugees are trying appropriation by rearranging a part of the urban space and adding something specific to it for themselves.
During this process, the origin region is not ignored; on the contrary, the places which have been left behind are kept alive in the names given to the new places by using the adjective “little” (e.g., Little Aleppo), and connections with the region of origin are maintained in this way.
The emergence of ethnic enterprises and an ethnic enclave economy in immigrant neighborhoods as well as in their immediate vicinity in Turkish cities serves the needs of immigrant groups and also creates employment opportunities for group members. Moreover, segregation leads to labor market marginality as migrants tend to work in the same business lines.
As a result, this article emphasizes that the residential segregation of different groups in Turkish cities should be examined in terms of both individual and contextual factors. However, much still remains to be explored.
