German Turks in the 60th Anniversary of Migration: The Case of Zonguldak Province

Abstract

After the Second World War, Germany made a breakthrough in heavy industry, especially in the sectors of iron and steel. Nevertheless, as a result of significant labor shortage in the country, labor agreements were signed with Italy in 1955, Spain and Greece in 1960 respectively. Subsequently, a labor agreement was signed between Turkey and Germany on 30 October 1961. Following this, there has been an intense migration from Turkey to Germany and the Turkish population in the country has reached 3 million in the 60th year of migration. At the present time, the Turkish population in Germany has extended as far as the fourth generation.In this case study, which is one of the qualitative research methods, as a result of the interviews carried out with men and women over the age of 50 who immigrated from Zonguldak to Germany between 1961-1980 and lived there, the socio-economic and socio-economic effects of the migration to Germany in the Zonguldak province and the cultural aspects and social and spatial reflections were investigated.In this study, it is deduced that those who immigrated from the Zonguldak province to Germany went to the Ruhr region through the Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR), and they were basically employed in the mining sector, iron and steel and machinery industry, and the second and third generation individuals who were born in Germany substantially preferred the service sector. It is also found out that almost all of the migrating families preferred Turkey for investment; they preferred to invest in real estate such as housing and land with their earnings; the children of the migrating families continued to have a sense of belonging to Turkey, albeit at a diminishing pace, but the ties of their grandchildren were severed.