ABSTRACT
The bulk of the international labour migration from Southern Europe during the last two decades has been regulated more by the demand for labour of Northern European countries than by ‘push’ factors in countries of emigration. Assumptions of the international migration theory relate to changes in socio-economic structures of both sending and receiving countries. In fact, the reasons for international migration are almost exactly the same as those causing internal migration, mainly the lack of employment opportunities and inadequate income in the regions of origin. The major factors underlying accelerated migration have been low agricultural productivity, inadequacy of agricultural income, disparities in the distribution of land ownership, mechanization and the fragmentation of agricultural land holdings. Turkey's policies for regional development were shaped at the beginning of the planned development period. The aim of the first five year development plan was to increase overall productivity by giving priority to the allocation of resources to regions with high social and economic potential.
