ABSTRACT
International labour migration is usually supposed to move from ‘underdeveloped’ or ‘developing’ countries in the global South to ‘developed’ countries in the global North. However, this orthodox notion of labour migration, however inaccurate in the past, has been increasingly challenged during the last three decades (Massey and Taylor, 2004; Bartram, 2005; Castles and Miller, 2009). Turkey used to be regarded as an emigration country, but since the 1990s it has become a country that receives migrants of different national origins (Mutluer, 2003). The reasons for this shift include: Turkey’s geographical position (as a crossroads between East and West and between North and South); its recent economic development; the economic transition period of the old Eastern Bloc countries following the collapse of the Soviet Union; and the conflicts and wars in the Middle East and African countries. Moreover, during the same period, thanks to increasing Turkish investments in Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus as well as the Middle East and North African (MENA) countries, white-collar and blue-collar workers have begun to move from Turkey to these countries to work. As such, since the 1990s, South–South migration has risen in importance for Turkey, as it has for migration networks in other parts of the globe.
