Migration, Identity and Belonging: The Case of Turkish Americans

Abstract

A migration process has begun especially after 1960s from Turkey to Europe as a part of the dense labor migration towards Europe in the post- Second World War period. Therefore, adaptation of Euro-Turk migrants to the wider society, identity and belonging problems have always been one of the hotly-debated issues. For this reason we tried to examine integration, identity and belonging and multiculturalism perceptions of Turkish Americans towards wider society in this paper. Findings of the study is based on the analysis of questionnaire data obtained from 299 participants who are of Turkish American origins. It is found that their perceptions of multiculturalism towards American mainstream society is developing in positive direction. We can say that this positive inclination has also a positive influence on space-belonging relation for immigrants in America. It is found that a great majority of Turkish Americans have an inclination to live together preserving their cultural, religious and national values. According to research findings, the tendency of marginalization among Turks living in America is very low and inter-cultural communication between Americans and Turks is limited.