Turkish Families in Europe

Social, economic and cultural integration of first generation immigrants and their children has been the focus of extensive research in Europe and elsewhere. However, much remains unknown about the multi-generational transmission of social, cultural, religious and economic resources, and behaviors. Furthermore, while transnational studies on intra- and international migration processes are well-established in the US, they are scarce in Europe. Finally, immigrants are mainly compared to other immigrants and/or natives, whereas studies comparing immigrants to those left behind or those who have re-emigrated to the origin country are an exception.

This project treated these research lacunae and extended existing research on international migration processes and intergenerational mobility by implementing a unique research design based on 2000 Turkish families. It reconstructed basic migration, family and socio-economic histories of complete lineages generated by a sample of 2000 ancestors, born in Turkey between 1921 and 1940 in selected high migration sending areas. The main focus was on men of the so-called guest worker generation who left their regions in the recruitment period until 1974 and migrated to Europe. The comparison group consists of same-aged men from the same regions who stayed in Turkey. Approximately 6000 family members were personally interviewed in Turkey and in Europe, including the male ancestors, their children, grandchildren, and, in some cases even their great grandchildren. The data set also includes “proxy interviews” for more than 1500 families with basic information about all adult family members, allowing for an investigation of intergenerational transmission of resources and values and their intersection with family migration trajectories.

The research project was financially supported by NORFACE ERA-NET from 2009 until 2014. Ayse Guveli (University of Essex, UK) was the principal investigator. Co-applicants were Prof. Bernhard Nauck (TU Chemnitz), Prof. Harry Ganzeboom (Free University of Amsterdam, NL) and Prof. Lucinda Platt (London School of Economics, UK). The team of researchers further included Dr. Helen Baykara-Krumme (TU Chemnitz), Dr. Sebnem Eroglu-Hawksworth (now: University of Bristol, UK), Dr. Niels Spierings (now: Radboud University, NL) and the doctoral students Sait Bayraktar (University of Essex, UK), and Efe Sözeri (Free University of Amsterdam, NL). 

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