Health, Wealth or Family Ties? Why Turkish Work Migrants Return from Germany

Abstract

In the 1960s and 1970s, hundreds of thousands of Turkish workers migrated to Germany. Some settled there, others returned to Turkey after a few years. To explore how the experience of life between two cultures and in transnational families affected the decision to return, we conducted focus-group sessions with male returnees in Turkey who had spent varying lengths of time in Germany. Return was rarely based on purely economic or health-related motives; value-oriented and emotional themes almost always played a role. There were complex interactions between particular themes, e.g. perceived health status and economic success. We organised our findings into three ‘ideal types’: first, the ‘nostalgic’ returned migrant who is facing socio-economic problems in Turkey and has a transfigured notion of life in Germany which he would like to but cannot resume; second, the ‘cultural traditionalist’ who considers Turkish culture superior and left Germany without remorse after having made some money; and third, the ‘player of two systems’ who thrives in both Turkey and Germany. This typology helps to structure and understand the complex themes underlying the decision to return-migrate.