In the first installment of this series, I mentioned that about 60 people had reached out to Medyascope with anecdotes of their experiences leaving Turkey and moving abroad. Since then, about 20 additional people have reached out. One detail of note is the large number of individuals who emigrated in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
From the responses received so far, it seems that there have been three important breaking points in recent years that pushed Turkish citizens to emigrate abroad: the Gezi protests of 2013 and its aftermath, the general elections of June and November 2015, and the failed coup attempt of July 15, 2016.
Gonca, a dentist who has been living in Germany since 2019, says that she actually thought of leaving the country in 2013, but gave up when Gezi started, inspired by the anti-government protests’ promise of change.
The search for a stable life
Nurhan, who has been living in Austria since December 2017, said, “After Gezi, things started to deteriorate. I had plans to go to the Yeni Türkü concert on the anniversary of Gezi, but it was banned. When Gezi happened, we really got our hopes up.” She characterized the aftermath of the Gezi protests as the beginning of a mental break with Turkey. Uluç, who now lives in Canada, summarizes his own story similarly: “We enjoyed Gezi and the potential for change. But it didn’t pan out. Then, to make matters worse, came [the failed coup attempt of] July 15.”
An important point to note here: many of the responses from recent Turkish emigres described the failed coup attempt of 2016 as a breaking point. None of them were sympathizers of the Fethullahists (FETÖ), the group accused of orchestrating the coup. On the contrary, all of them expressed their opposition to FETÖ. However, the failed coup attempt seemed to mark a point at which Turkey entered an uncertain future, a sentiment shared by many urban middle class citizens who began to question their desire to continue living in Turkey. The phrase “I wanted a stable life” came up repeatedly among many emigrants. In particular, middle-aged emigrants expressed the desire to find ‘security’ in their new lives abroad.
“We gave our country one last chance, but it didn’t work”
Ömer, who settled in the Netherlands, was working in a public sector job during the coup attempt of 2016. “After the coup attempt, a brand new order was established within the Turkish state and everyone tried to get their share from it,” he said, explaining his discomfort with post-2016 Turkey.
Another striking anecdote about the 2016 came from Musa, who has been living in Sweden with his wife and daughter and working there as a doctor for about six years:
“I worked as an assistant professor at a provincial university when I did not have any plans to be an academician in my life and I did not plan my career accordingly. After the July 15 coup attempt, we received an offer from professors and a dean who knew that I and my wife do not belong to any association, foundation, group and that we are just people who want to do our job properly. At that time, they were very confused about who they would bring to the vacant or vacated universities and they did not have such a staff; Who knows, maybe it still isn’t. We accepted this offer to give our life in our country one last chance, even though it was almost certain that we would go to Sweden. But in the academic community, it only took a few months for us to understand how things work. After 8-9 months, we packed our suitcases and sent the letters from the notary public to the relevant institutions, even though our resignation petitions were not accepted.”
“I was working as an assistant professor at a provincial university, although I did not plan to pursue academia long-term and had not planned my career accordingly. Following the coup attempt, my wife and I received an offer from professors and a dean who knew that we were not members of any organization or foundation and were just normal people trying to lead a normal life. At the time [post-coup purges of academia] many universities did not know who to hire; perhaps they still don’t. Although we had already planned our move to Sweden, we decided to accept this offer in order to give our country one last chance. But it only took us a few months to realize how things worked in the academic world. Eight or nine months later, we packed our bags, and left, despite the fact that our resignations were not accepted.”
The final breaking point: 2023 elections
Nearly every emigrant we spoke to expressed that they had thought the opposition would win Turkey’s general elections in May 2023 elections, which saw President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan elected to a third presidential term. Many did not hide their great disappointment. Below are several examples:
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Editörlerimizin derlediği öngörüler, analizler, Türkiye’yi ve dünyayı şekillendiren haberler, Medyascope’un e-bülteni Andaç‘la her çarşamba mail kutunuzda.
Ömer (Netherlands): In the short term, I have no plans to return. I lost my hope with the last elections.
Zerrin (England): Even if the outcome of the elections were different, I would not have returned immediately. But it would have been a big relief.
Bertan (Germany): I have no regrets. The election solidified my decision.
Buket (Netherlands): We had high expectations from the elections, but we were devastated.
Polat (England): If the elections had turned out differently, we would have considered returning; now, we have no such hopes.
Çiğdem (Netherlands): The elections really upset us.
İbrahim (England): We turned a corner in the elections. We did. Politics no longer has any meaning.
Oğuz (Germany): I would have been happy if the election results had been different, but I would not have returned.
Cihat (Netherlands): We were very hopeful about the elections. Now though, we feel stuck.
Fethi (England): If the election had been different, my view would have changed. We screwed up.
To end this installment, here is an anecdote from Mehmet, who lives in Norway: “Although my family is made up of people who are potential Justice and Development Party (AKP) swing voters, I have never been an AKP voter. As someone who has always been academically successful and worked hard in Turkey, it has been difficult for me to support a mentality that says, ‘Let them go if they go’. I am not one to belittle my country, as some of those who leave the country do. However, although the AKP is the main factor in the migration of me and people like me from the country, I also blame the short-sighted opposition, which has been unable to defeat the AKP at the ballot box for 20 years.”
