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Migrant workers return to Turkey after 50 years
NURİYE DOĞU/SEVGİ SAYAR BAŞARAN
ISTANBUL - Radika
About 5.2 million people of Turkish origin live in European Union counties and 144,000 of these people are running their own businesses there
An increasing number of Turkish people working in western countries, mainly in Germany, are returning to their homeland 50 years after the labor migration from the country started, according to a professor.
Unemployment and rising racism are the major elements drawing more Turkish workers back to Turkey, Faruk Şen, who chairs the Turkish German Education and Scientific Researches Foundation, told the Radikal newspaper.
“Along with these problems, the rapid growing Turkish economy is triggering a move back to the country,” he said adding that 190,000 young people of Turkish descent had returned to Turkey from Germany.
About 5.2 million people of Turkish origin live in European Union counties and 144,000 of these people are running their own businesses there.
Possible investments by the migrant workers coming back to the country may contribute significantly to the country’s economy, the professor said.
“By 2008, some 260,000 Turks living in Germany bought houses there. Today the figure has fallen to 200,000 as some 60,000 sold their houses to buy new homes in Turkey.”
Forecasting that the return will accelerate the developing social life conditions in Turkey is also helping the shift, the professor said.
Some real estate consultancy companies are presenting housing projects to people living in Germany and Holland.
The migrant workers visit Turkey not for resting but for entertainment and vacation also.
Particularly the third generation in Germany is attracted by the night life in Istanbul, he said.
Every year about 2 million migrant workers visit Turkey. These people, who used to come to Turkey mainly with their own cars today, prefer flying.
Some 1 million come to Turkey not only to visit relatives but to have holidays mostly in the country’s eastern and southern tourism destinations.
Ahmet Barut, head of the Turkish Hoteliers Federation, or TUROFED, told Radikal that starting from the second generation more Turks in Germany started prefering Turkey for summer holidays.
Öğer and GTI are the leading tour operators that sell tourism packages to people of Turkish origin who live abroad.
Tourists of Turkish origin spend 30 percent more than Germans, according to Şen. “Young and rich migrants spend at least 1,500 euros during their visits to Turkey
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