From Guest Worker Migration to Transmigration: The German-Turkish Migratory Movements and the Special Role of Istanbul and the Ruhr

This chapter aims to trace the process of change of the Turkish guest worker migration through to transmigration, and to highlight the corresponding role and significance of Istanbul as a logistical and organizational center and key sending region, and of the Ruhr as a central host region. The Turkish migration process, which began in 1961, by 2011 had involved the movement of a total of 6.8 million people between the two contracting countries. The intensity and direction of migration is thus a statistically credible reflection of the intake, anchoring, and change processes of Turkish migration in Germany. The migratory relations between Turkey and Germany can be divided into four phases: (1) Guest worker phase (1961–1973), (2) Hoping-to-return phase (1974–1985), (3) Putting-down-roots phase (1986–2005) and (4) Transmigrants phase (from 2006). This division into phases aids explanation of the process of development from temporary migration (guest worker phase) to permanent residence and to the increasing flexibility of life orientations and belongings (transmigration). The first part of the chapter is concerned with these four developments and decision phases of the Turkish migration process and makes clear which response to the issue at hand tends to emerge from the Turkish migrants in the course of migration.