Pathways of emplacement and belonging of the Türkiyeli population in northern Cyprus: insights from a settler village

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the 1975–1980 migration from Turkey to northern Cyprus, which was conjointly facilitated by Turkish and Turkish Cypriot states. It seeks to contribute to the academic literature on the incorporation experiences of the subjects of this policy, that is, the ‘Türkiyeli’ groups living in the island’s north. In an attempt to underline the heterogeneous migration experiences of this population, the article depicts different incorporation strategies of two groups residing in a settler village. Drawing on field observations and in-depth interviews, it argues that the distinctive pathways of emplacement and belonging of the groups under scrutiny had taken shape in accordance with their distinctive strategies of mobilizing, validating and creating social and cultural capital.

KEYWORDS:

• Immigrant incorporation
• social capital
• cultural capital
• northern Cyprus
• Turkish migrants
• Turkish settlers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The late Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf R. Denktaş can be regarded as one of the most influential representatives of Turkish nationalism in the Turkish Cypriot society. His statements about Turkish and Greek Cypriots’ sharing the same ethnic roots with the members of their respective ‘motherlands’ are well known (Navaro-Yashin 2006).

2. The name of the village will not be disclosed to preserve participants’ anonymity.

3. On its website, the International Organization for Migration (2022) defines the term migrant as ‘a person who moves away from his or her place of usual residence, whether within a country or across an international border, temporarily or permanently, and for a variety of reasons’.

4. According to Berry (1997) immigrants do not only seek an integrationist strategy. Depending on circumstances, they may choose ‘marginalization’ by denying both their own culture and the culture of their receiving society, ‘assimilation’ by giving up their own cultural patterns, or ‘separation’ by retaining their cultural patterns and refusing receiving society’s culture.

5. Kandel and Massey (2002) describe ‘culture of migration’ as an important value in a community, where migration is regarded as a normal path to be taken at some stage of life for economic mobility.

6. There are some exceptions to this settlement pattern as a few immigrant groups were settled in urban settings, namely in the Varosha neighbourhood in Famagusta.

7. Interviewees are referred to by pseudonyms to protect their anonymity.

8. It must be noted that this pattern of regarding truck driving as the only job option is changing as more members of the second and third-generations are attaining higher educational achievements.

9. Even though a significant number of second-generation members of the Mersin group were married to Turkish Cypriots, these did not reside in the village. During the time of the field research there was only one household of mixed marriage in the village. This couple of Turkish Cypriot wife and Mersin-born husband were among the first to get married after the Mersin group’s arrival in the island.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ayşenur Talat Zrilli

Ayşenur Talat Zrilli is a full-time faculty member of the Psychology Department of Eastern Mediterranean University. She is a sociologist (PhD) with research interests in migration, nationalism and ethnic migration, migrant incorporation, migrant transnationalism, gender and feminist studies.