Population Movements in Southeastern Anatolia: Some Findings of an Empirical Research in 1993

Abstract

The purpose of the research on which the present article is based was to collect and analyze socio-economic and cultural data on seasonal and permanent migration within the South-eastern Anatolian Project (GAP) Region and between that region and the Metropolitan areas of Turkey. The absence of social scientific knowledge on intra- and interregional migration in this particular context has already been emphasized in the GAP Master Plan Study Report (SPO, 1989). In addition, the region is interesting for social scientists not only because of radical transformations taking place due to the construction of large dams and irrigation projects but also because of the ethnic identity questions that are raised by some Kurdish speaking groups in the region. The present article presents the framework of the research, carried out in 1993, and some of its findings. The findings reported here do not shed direct light on the so-called “ethnic question” or “Kurdish question”; but they help in understanding the transformation and continuity of socio-economic and cultural structures that shape social and political action in the region.