Project Description: Emigration From An Environment of Insecurity and Its Effects on Ethnic Identity - Turkish Kurds in Cologne

Significance
The significance of this study is twofold: First, it revisits Turkish emigration in terms of an environment of insecurity which can enable one to have a better understanding of recent emigration from Turkey. It reveals the emigration of Kurds, who are the second largest ethnicity in Turkey and major participants of recent migration flows from Turkey. In this regard an ovelooked component of Turkish emigration will be elaborated. · Second, it consists of field-research based on in-depth interviews and participant observation of Turkish-Kurdish immigrants in Cologne. In this respect, it will elaborate the distinct emigration patterns of Kurds and their effects on their ethnic identities after the movement to Cologne, Germany. Thus a full account of Turkish Kurdish emigration will be available and be highlighted for the attention of policy makers and social researchers.
The research is planned as two staged in order to get an in-depth understanding of the migration in regard to its time and space dimensions. The analysis of available survey data (TDHS and TIMS) will provide information on the patterns of emigration for Kurds and on background information to describe the environment of insecurity as a factor facilitating emigration. The second stage is based on in-depth interviews with Kurdish emigrants and participant observation in Cologne, Germany.

Background
Emigration flows from Turkey to Europe are voluminous and continued since the 1960s. However, the ethnicity dimension of Turkish emigration remains under-researched. After lots of bloody clashes and rise of Kurdish ethno-nationalism it is realised that there is a strong current of Kurds among emigrating Turkish nationals, which is estimated about 500,000. The Kurdish question in Turkey still needs resolution and the Kurdish rivalry may be better understood with a conceptualisation of an environment of insecurity which is characterized by socio-economic underdevelopment and cultural and political oppression. Recently there has been an increasing flow of asylum seeking and refugees from Turkey. There is also an internal mobility caused by armed conflict in the region mainly populated by Kurdish people. · Germany is the country with the largest immigrant community from Turkey. 70 percent of Turkish (and Kurdish) immigrants stay in Germany, mainly in the North Rhein Westphalia region. Conceptual framework The conceptual framework used in this study has two major components interacting with mainstream theories of migration and ethnic studies; Environment of insecurity as a factor affecting emigration, which has two interacting components: material and non-material environments of insecurity. The former is charaterized poor living standards whereas the latter is caused by oppression over cultural rights, including use of mother tongue. · A comprehensive matrix of ethnic emigration of Turkish Kurds which basically proposes that there is a relation between the environment of insecurity (based on the oppression of ethnic Kurds and socio-economic underdevelopment in their living spaces) and emigration.
Consequently there is a relation between emigration constructed in such a way and ethnic identity in the destination countries.

Research questions
This research aims to investigate the following question:

• What are the emigration patterns of Turkish Kurds?
• To what extent, does the environment of insecurity constitute a root cause for the emigration of Turkish Kurds?
• In what ways has this migration had an impact on the ethnic identity of that particular immigrant group who came from an environment of insecurity to an environment of security?

A Multi-method research
This research will employ three different types of methodology: Statistical analysis of survey data to describe patterns of migration and to describe the environment of insecurity for Turkish Kurds: 1996 Turkish International Migration Survey data and 1993 Turkish Demographic Health Survey data will be analysed for these purposes. In this analyses only descriptive statistics will be run.
The in-depth interviews will be held in Cologne with the members of Turkish Kurdish immigrant community and selected through snowballing methods. The interviews will be analysed to figure out the reasons of emigration and their relevance to the environment of insecurity and also to figure out the impacts of emigration on the ethnic identity. About 40 immigrants will be interviewed.
A methodology of narrative analysis will be employed for qualitative analysis of interviews. As a complementary component, five months will be spent in the field for participant observations to assess the real life patterns of immigrants to avoid to be imprisoned to their discursive consciousness.

Supervisors: Dr. Deborah Sporton and Dr. Charles Pattie

Ibrahim Sirkeci ( http://members.tripod.com/~ibo )