ABSTRACT
Migration and labor practices among Bulgarian Turkish labor migrants in Germany are affected by three important developments. The some group of Bulgarian Turkish labor migrants in Germany is composed of both regular and irregular migrants. Overall, both regular and irregular labor migrants, whether seasonal or long-term, support households and families back home. Migration and mobility between the host and the home society have become normal for Bulgarian Turkish migrants while family life in Bulgaria is structured around the cyclical leaves and returns of family members from work abroad, the life of migrants abroad is framed by livelihood strategies back in Bulgaria. The case of Fatima is representative of the social reality of Bulgarian Turks in Berlin, which is based on a dynamic that is distinguished by the close pragmatic association with German Turks on the one hand, and ongoing symbolic tensions created by claims concerning the cultural distinctiveness between the two groups, on the other.
