Ethnicity and migration

İbrahim Sirkeci's article caught my attention right off the bet because ethnicity is a serious conflict reason in Turkey and no-one takes it lightly. I knew that economic factors were the driving force at first for Turks migrating to Germany but I am very curious about ethnic reasons and how ethnicity affects migrant Turks in Germany. Are there different and distinct ethnic groups among Turkish migrant in Germany? Do they interact with each other different than we interact with each other back in Turkey?
The name "environment of insecurity" I think is very well chosen. It's one of the few terms that are used in research articles that can also convey -to me at least- some emotion in it. The reasons for "deprivation" which contributed to migration are no surprise for a Turkish reader of this article. (Keeping in mind that regional populations are no way 100% homogeneous  Socio-economic underdevelopment in the east: very obvious. Demographic trends: Fertility rates, that is an easy guess as well. Political deprivation: We already know. At this point in the article the part about names being from Turkish language is a bit irrelevant. So many countries have similar laws, and there are people with Kurdish names. For foreign names, if you write them with Turkish characters it is okay. Look at all the Oskars, Ceymis and Cesis around. Come on... My uncle was forced to change to an American name after immigration, when he received his citizenship.
After this, the article gets more interesting. Among nine variables, gender has the highest score with region. Financial situation is forth! Religion, ethnicity, education come as last ones. This is very intriguing data and goes against my previous guesses. I thought ethnicity would score among highest ones.

People who are somewhat financially adequate tend to migrate more than inadequate segment. People with education can migrate more than people with no education. This shows that migration requires resources and its not always a happy exit for suffering people, which is sad. I was not looking to find this in the article but I guess this moved me so much more than other findings.

"Significantly for my argument, other variables being equal Turks are less likely to migrate than Kurds-a findingg perhaps indicative of the role of the overall environment of insecurity, while the motivation could also be economic."
Since the relative data to do research about migration is very hard to obtain as Sirkeci admits and the motivations can be hard to be surfaced, I think this is definitely an answer to the first questions in my mind which was which ethnic group tends to migrate more.

Because the data is hard to find and migration is a topic that is a different journey for different people the personal interview section is the most exciting part to read. Data sure can show many common characteristics among people but interviews show so much more. From this part, I could get some answers to my other questions. Remarkable portion of migrants in Cologne wanted to go to another country because of ethnic reasons. But for some the situation is more because of economic reasons.

While the study couldn't really answer my deeper questions, it was a good place to start.

The in-between space

"There was always something comforting, familiar about airports and air
terminals. They give me a sense of purpose and security."

My first thought after reading this sentence was "God, this person must be the exact opposite of me." I hate airports, I hate everything about them, their lights are too bright, the air is never the right temperature and you always say goodbye to something. Even if its travelling from Istanbul to Ankara for just the weekend, I dread the time I'll go to the airport and get this meaningless melancholy every time. But as soon as I pass the automatic doors of the airport and I'm out, I'm instantly in the mood to explore with a huge smile on my face. It's just that building that gets on my nerves so much. I never liked in-betweenness and maybe that's why I hate this space of perpetual in-betweenness.

Maybe I would feel totally different if I had been living in a different country than my ancestors. Maybe than, the airports would mark the contours of my life, give me a purpose. They may also become the place where I gather my thoughts and change into the mode of destination country, a kind of adjustment phase. The thing is, the later generations of immigrants can end up not knowing about the culture of the country of their origin. While some parents spend extra effort into teaching their young about their culture, for some this becomes only an annoying task. I think the reason of departure may have something to do with this. For some, the emotions the home country awakes may be a burden. The thing I've experienced from my cousins living in New York, they can't even speak Turkish and whenever they visit us here, Turkey is just a curious place that they don't really know about. They ask questions about food, about music and about everything but there is something missing in the sense of belonging. They know they don't belong here. Being Turkish in New York becomes the title they can brag about because it is so exotic to the other common Americans. Whenever I visit them there, I can see that I am treated as the most exotic creature on earth as well.

But for my cousin's case, they use their difference from Americans as a positive thing and because they are Turkish they are popular. They accept Turkey as this imaginary home made out of sugar because the experience related to it is positive. They always want to come back because they are always welcome here and gather many stories to tell back in their American home. But are they concerned with say, Turkish politics? Only the first and second generations are. I always wonder about how the latest generation of Turks particularly there would feel if they didn't get such positive feedback about being Turkish. Maybe calling here home would be harder than. Maybe airports would offer more comfort than Turkish family gatherings.

For me, home is where the heart belongs. It is the place where no matter what, no matter the accomplishments or mistakes, it is the place that you are 100% accepted to be back. It is the place you return after going out into the world and having fun. But after reading the articles I get the sense that this is because I was never forced or chose to leave my country. I was not confused growing up, I was Turkish, end of the story. I was not different from my peers. How and what we ate at home or how we behaved around our parents were all the same. Maybe that's why I have so much freedom and confidence claiming a certain to be my home now.