50 Years After the Labour Recruitment Agreement with Germany: The Consequences of Emigration for Turkey

Year 2012, Volume: 17 Issue: 2, 11 - 36, 01.07.2012

Ahmet İçduygu

Abstract

Turkey is a country with relatively recent and ongoing experience of labour emigration. Starting with the signing of the bilateral Turkish-West German labour recruitment agreement in October 1961, it has been a country of emigration, a trend that significantly influenced part of its economic, social, and political history. This essay elaborates the last fifty-year history of labour emigration from Turkey, and its consequences for the country in the economic, social and political spheres. It aims to sketch briefly the trends and patterns of emigration flows with reference mainly to the changing nature of these flows over time. More specifically, the essay offers an overview of the main impacts of labour migration for the country. It concludes that neither the positive nor the negative consequences of emigratory flows for the country should be overestimated

Keywords

Turkey, Germany, emigration, labour migration, labour recruitment agreement, remittances.

References

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• In 1964 with Austria, the Netherlands, and Belgium, in 1965 with France, and in 1967 with Sweden and Australia. Less comprehensive agreements were signed with the United Kingdom in 1961, with Switzerland in 1971, with Denmark in 1973 and with Norway in 1981. For a detailed elaboration of these agreements, see Erhard Franz, Population Policy in Turkey, Hamburg, Deutsches Orient-Institut, 1994, pp. 5-16.
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