CIRCULAR MIGRATION EXPERIENCES OF THE ELDERLY TURKISH MIGRANTS IN BELGIUM: A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

The Turkish migrants in Belgium is one of the largest migrant population in Belgium and Europe. For the Turkish community in Belgium, maintaining social and emotional ties with the homeland is still of great importance, and their life in Belgium is not completely disconnected from Turkey. On the contrary, most of the Turkish population in Belgium, especially elderly Turkish migrants, have a circular migration dynamic in which they spend almost half of the year in Turkey and the rest of the time in the country of immigration. This circular migration dynamic has some social and economic benefits for the first and second generation Turkish migrants in Belgium, who are mostly in their aging process nowadays. Besides these benefits, experiencing to be an elderly circular migrant between Belgium and Turkey may also cause some challenges. This study aims to explore the experiences of elderly Turkish migrants regarding being circular migrants. Consistent with the purpose of the study, 14 elderly Turkish migrants, who have a circular migration dynamic between Belgium and Turkey, participated in the study. The qualitative interviews of the study were carried out in the Emirdağ district of the Afyon province of Turkey, where the Turkish population migrated to Belgium in the 1960s reside heavily. The findings of the study show that, despite some challenges encountered, circular migration occurs as an effective strategy for the elderly Turkish migrants in Emirdağ in terms of benefiting the resources of both countries in the aging process.