Turkish Community Research Articles

What’s behind the Attitudes of the Ethnic Bulgarians in Reproductive Age towards Interethnic Marriages with Members of Bulgaria’s Turkish Community?

This piece of research investigates the determinants of ethnic Bulgarians’ attitudes towards interethnic marriages with members of Bulgaria’s Turkish community. A statistical analysis was conducted to examine the role of socio-demographic factors in shaping these attitudes. It discusses many factors but focuses on the statistically significant educational attainment, settlement type, family status, and net income. Higher levels of education do not necessarily lead to more tolerant attitudes towards interethnic marriages. Settlement type and family status emerge as influential determinants. Income is important in shaping attitudes, with the better-off households exhibiting higher approval rates to interethnic mixed marriages. These and other findings contribute to understanding interethnic attitudes and provide valuable insights for policymakers and stakeholders working towards fostering social cohesion and inclusion.

Comparative content analysis and biological activity studies of fatty and essential oils from some garlic products sold in Turkish community pharmacies, natural, and fermented garlic

AbstractGarlic (Alliaceae), an annual herb, is renowned not only for its distinctive flavor but also for its extensive therapeutic applications in managing various ailments and health conditions. In this study, garlic products identified as the best‐selling items in Turkish pharmacies for various purposes were compared with garlic grown under standard conditions in terms of chemical composition and antidiabetic, anticholinesterase, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties. Three of garlic samples were prepared by researchers. According to survey results, the most commonly sold garlic‐related products in pharmacies are black garlic extract tablets (4), capsules (5), garlic oil (6), garlic oil pearls (7), and fermented garlic (8). Diallyl disulfide (DADS) was identified as a predominant compound in sampled oils, ranging from 4.9% to 48.6%. Another noteworthy finding is the identification of allyl methyl disulfide and allyl methyl trisulfide as major components in sampled oils, with concentrations spanning from 2.9% to 9.8% and 0.4% to 17.5%, respectively. In both 2,2′‐azino‐bis‐(3‐ethylbenzothiazoline‐6‐sulfonic) acid (ABTS·+) and 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH•) tests, Sample 1 (fermented) exhibited the highest antioxidant activity. Sample 3 (cultivated) was richer in total phenol–total tannin content. Sample 6 exhibited the highest α‐glucosidase inhibition among antidiabetic activities, reaching 28.93%. Sample 5 capsules demonstrated the highest α‐amylase inhibition at 51.50%. Sample 7 exhibited the most notable inhibition against both acetylcholinesterase (22.92%) and butyrylcholinesterase (13.37%). Samples 3, 6, and 8 were found to be more effective against Candida tropicalis with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) = 625 μg/mL. A comprehensive study on garlic products, including popular items from Turkish pharmacies and those grown under standard conditions, revealed diverse chemical compositions and multifaceted health properties.

Nostalgia and Stories of Early Arrival Amongst the Turkish Diaspora in Broadmeadows

This article discusses how Turkish people in the suburb of Broadmeadows in Melbourne, Australia, construct nostalgia for their earlier days as migrants. Furthermore, it highlights the didactic and ethical role this nostalgia plays within the Turkish community. Turkish migrants began to manifest nostalgia for the earlier days in Australia after the dream of returning to the homeland began to wane. This nostalgia presents an image of the ideal Turk to the younger generations in Australia and therefore helps to preserve the Turkish identity. This nostalgia also enables Turks to distance themselves from negative images of the contemporary homeland, allowing them to present themselves as authentic Turks; it also helps Turkish Australians to cope with their economic marginality in Australia. Nostalgia for the early days in Australia therefore has many purposes for Turkish Australians today.

Sharing the Responsibility: Ministry of National Education’s Disaster Preparedness and Response to Kahramanmaraş Earthquake

Disaster-resilient communities develop effective preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation strategies. Following the experience of earthquakes on February 6, the Turkish community has been questioning its resilience. This paper examined the Ministry of National Education’s five-year preparedness strategies before the earthquake and its response to the February 6 earthquakes in Turkiye. The findings revealed that the Ministry made efforts to raise awareness among the community by developing training programs and securing schools by strengthening or rebuilding facilities. The ministry’s disaster response actions were classified into five categories: education, first aid and healthcare, food and water management, search and rescue, and shelter management. Our analysis suggested that the Ministry put crucial effort into disaster education, but more was needed to reach the entire school community. Furthermore, the Ministry responded promptly to the categories of food and water management, search and rescue, and shelter management from the first day, but not in its primary responsibility of education category.

Nostalgia and Stories of Early Arrival

This article will discuss how Turkish people in the suburb of Broadmeadows in Melbourne, Australia, construct nostalgia for their earlier days as migrants. Further, it will highlight the didactic and ethical role this nostalgia plays within the Turkish community. Turkish migrants began to manifest nostalgia for the earlier days in Australia after the dream of returning to the homeland began to wane. This nostalgia presents an image of the ideal Turk to the younger generations in Australia and therefore helps to preserve the Turkish identity. This nostalgia also enables Turks to distance themselves from negative images of the contemporary homeland, allowing them to present themselves as authentic Turks; it also helps Turkish Australians to cope with their economic marginality in Australia. Nostalgia for the early days in Australia therefore has many purposes for Turkish Australians today.

THE ROLE OF WOMAN IN BIRTH RITUALS OF KAZAKH AND TURKISH PEOPLE

This article delves into the captivating world of birth rituals in Kazakh culture, uncovering the rich tapestry of traditions, customs, and beliefs surrounding the sacred process of bringing new life into the world. Drawing upon ethnographic research, historical records, and interviews with Kazakh elders, this study aims to provide a comprehensive exploration of the significance and evolution of birth rituals within the Kazakh and Turkish community. The article begins by setting the cultural context of Kazakh society, emphasizing the deeply rooted respect for family, community, and spiritual connection. It highlights the fundamental role of birth in perpetuating the Kazakh lineage and its influence on the social fabric of the community. Moreover, the article delves into the historical origins of these rituals, tracing their roots back to ancient nomadic traditions and the interplay between Islam and local animistic beliefs. The subsequent sections of the article meticulously examine the diverse stages of birth rituals, commencing with preparations leading up to childbirth, followed by the actual delivery process, and concluding with postpartum practices. Each stage is scrutinized in terms of its symbolic significance, associated practices, and the roles of key individuals involved, such as midwives, elders, and family members.

Defeat, entrapment and suicidal ideation in a Turkish community sample of young adults: an examination of the Integrated Motivational-Volitional (IMV) model of suicidal behaviour

The present study examines the relationships between defeat, entrapment, suicidal ideation, thwarted belongingness, and perceived burdensomeness through the Integrated Motivational-Volitional (IMV) Model of Suicidal Behaviour in a sample of Turkish young adults. The sample consisted of 451 individuals (72.5% females, M age= 25.20). The correlation analyses revealed significant relationships between defeat, entrapment, suicidal ideation, thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness in the expected directions. Mediation and moderation analyses partly confirmed the assumptions of the motivational phase of the IMV model; entrapment played a mediating role between defeat and suicidal ideation, and thwarted belongingness (but not perceived burdensomeness) had a moderating role in the pathway between entrapment and suicidal ideation. These findings add a new dimension to the understanding of suicide risk and potential protective factors through the IMV model, which was tested for the first time in the Turkish population. It is anticipated that this study will contribute to suicide prevention intervention strategies, especially for young adults, at-risk group for suicide in Turkey.

A cross-sectional study of the willingness to consume insects in a culture without entomophagy

Abstract Entomophagy is the technical term for eating insects and traditionally a part of daily diet in many tropical and subtropical countries. The rapidly increasing world population, industry and human-induced environmental pollution, and global warming reduce agricultural lands and clean water resources and make it difficult to produce sufficient food and therefore protein. Although edible insects are a promising opportunity as they require fewer natural resources than other animal foods, they are not considered as the food of the future in many Western countries for reasons such as disgust. A growing body of research in a diverse array of cultural contexts has examined people’s attitudes towards eating insects, but this work has not yet included Türkiye, a country with a well-established traditional cuisine and where entomophagy is highly novel. This study examined attitudes toward eating insects, and predictors thereof, in a large Turkish community sample (n = 914). For willingness to eat whole insects, age was a significant positive predictor, and food neophobia, disgust sensitivity, and being female were negative predictors for both whole insects and insect flour foods. For both types of insect foods, disgust was a negative predictor and belief in the benefits of eating insects was a positive predictor. This pattern of results is concordant with work from many other cultural contexts in the Americas, Asia, and Western Europe, providing further evidence for the importance of reducing food neophobia and disgust sensitivity and providing information about the benefits of insect foods in order to improve attitudes toward entomophagy.

Unsettling Borders of Archives: Activating the Audiovisual Heritage of the Turkish Community in the Netherlands

This article explores issues with archival preservation and access in the case of the audiovisual heritage of migrant communities, which defies hegemonic categories of nation, race, ethnicity, language. As such, although these communities are somewhat present in archives, they are marginalised and remain absent, silent, and dormant. Through two case studies of audiovisual representations of Turkish migrants from Dutch public archives, the article tackles possible ways to unravel such hegemonic categories, thereby reflecting the multiplicities and instabilities of migrant archival objects. It explores the pivotal role of community engagement for more inclusive archival practices that undermine its constitutive limits –– to work with archives against the archives.

A qualitative study on asthma management experiences of Turkish community pharmacists

Introduction Asthma is seen in more than 4 million people in Turkey. Numerous studies have shown the beneficial effects of pharmacist interventions on medication adherence and therapeutic outcomes. The aim of this study was to gain insight into the current situation by examining the experiences of Turkish community pharmacists in relation to the counseling and referral of asthma patients, the responsibilities of pharmacists and the recommendations made by pharmacists to improve asthma management. Methods In this qualitative study, the constructivist-interpretivist paradigm was adopted. To conduct qualitative interviews, a semi-structured interview guide was devised to gather insights from the pharmacists. The interviews were coded verbatim. Subsequently, various themes and sub-themes were developed based on the aim and objectives of the study. Results A total of 14 pharmacists engaged in semi-structured interviews conducted between June and August 2023. The wealth of information gathered during these interviews facilitated a meticulous thematic analysis, yielding four overarching themes: 1) Patient-related difficulties, 2) Communication with physicians, 3) Desired traits and responsibilities of pharmacists, 4) Pharmacists’ expectations. Pharmacists placed significant emphasis on their challenges in allocating time to patients, primarily due to high workloads and limited collaboration with physicians. Conclusion Considering the workload and time limitations faced by pharmacists, a collaborative model involving pharmacists and physicians is seen as essential. Enhancing the collaboration between pharmacists and physicians, especially for chronic diseases, holds the potential to enhance public health outcomes while alleviating the workload of pharmacists.

Lived experiences of Turkish community pharmacists toward person-centric care: a qualitative analysis.

In Turkey, the SMART pharmacist program was launched to enable community pharmacists to deliver patient-centric care services. However, how far this programme has achieved success and what are the challenges faced by the programme need to be evaluated. This study aimed to explore the experiences of community pharmacists in providing person-centric care services in pharmacies and provide recommendations for improved care effectiveness. A phenomenological approach was adopted in this study. To conduct qualitative interviews, a semi-structured interview guide was devised to gather insights from the pharmacists. The interviews were coded verbatim. Subsequently, various themes and sub-themes were developed based on the aim and objectives of the study. A total of 14 pharmacists engaged in semi-structured interviews conducted between May and August 2023. Two main themes emerged from the data: challenges in person-centric care and recommendations to improve person-centric care. Barriers were subdivided into patient-related challenges and personal challenges. Recommendations consisted of pharmacists' professional tasks and recommendations. The findings of this study, suggest that the concerned healthcare authorities should re-evaluate the 'SMART pharmacist' program in Turkey and address professional and personal challenges faced by community pharmacists in delivering effective person-centric care. Pharmacists recommend patient follow-up (follow-ups), providing a counselling environment, collaboration with physicians, expansion of pharmacy services.

The power of ethnographic toolkit in understanding transnational culture

Intergenerational ethnographic research poses several practical, epistemological, and ethical challenges. This study seeks to address these complexities by encouraging researchers to construct personalised ethnographic toolkits that provide insights into uncovering the complex subjectivities of research populations through intergenerational narratives. Based on over two years of research among the Turkish community in London, the study reveals compelling examples of symbolic communication used by individuals of different generations, genders, and social roles. Using various data collection methods, including interviews, observation, drawing, and television viewing, the research illustrates how this ethnic community uses language, fashion, and religion to integrate into multicultural environments and manifest their belonging in transnational contexts. By incorporating methodological tools such as unplanned moments, reflexivity, and positionality, the study aims to understand the underpinnings of cultural identity by examining how different generations respond to social conditions shaped by migration.

Negotiating Social Protection and Care: A Study of First-Generation Older Turkish Community in London

Access to social protection in old age is crucial and yet contingent upon negotiations between the social structures of the welfare states and the personal networks within which individuals are embedded. International migration, changing family dynamics, and the transformation of care and other welfare policies in the global North make it challenging for older migrants to negotiate social protection. Drawing on 45 semi-structured interviews with first-generation older Turkish migrants in London and 13 semi-structured interviews with professional service providers for the community, the paper aims to investigate the assemblages of formal and informal social protection in the lives of older migrants. Findings indicate the complexity in accessing informal social protection and the navigation of formal care support in the UK for first generation older Turkish migrants and the contingency of access to formal care services on informal support networks for participants. It has been demonstrated that built infrastructure and policies aimed at older adults have great influence on assemblages of care, highlighting the need for more age-friendly and integrated policies to facilitate access to social protection for diverse groups of older adults.

Valence and perceived control in personal and collective future thinking: the relation to psychological well-being

ABSTRACT Prior studies have shown that people imagine their personal future to be more positive than their country’s collective future. The present research extends the nascent literature by examining the valence and perceived control of personal and national future events in a new experimental paradigm, the cultural generalizability of the findings, and the relation of future thinking to psychological well-being. US college students (Study 1) and US and Turkish community participants (Study 2) imagined what might happen to them and their country in three time points (i.e., next week, next year, and in 10–15 years). They then rated the emotional valence and perceived control of the events and completed a psychological well-being measure. Both US and Turkish participants imagined their personal future to be more positive than their country’s future, whereas they attributed higher perceived control to their countries for national future events than to themselves for personal future events. The positivity of national (Study 1) and personal future events (Study 2) predicted better psychological well-being, whereas perceived control did not. These original findings enrich our theoretical understanding of future thinking.

Are Syrian children integrated into our education?: Turkish teachers’ perspectives on the inclusive education project

ABSTRACT Integrating Syrian children into the Turkish national educational system has been one of the most recent and significant discussion issues in educational research and policy making areas. With a primary objective of alleviating Syrian refugees’ linguistic difficulties, a nationwide inclusive education project; Promoting Integration of Syrian Kids into Turkish Education System (PIKTES), has been implemented since 2016 in 26 cities all over Turkey. The current study was designed with the aim of listening to the voices of Turkish teachers, participating in the integration program of Syrian students into the Turkish education system and community life. Seven teachers at primary level schools shared their experiences during the project, and the thematic analysis of the data revealed the challenges of implementation due to school-related factors such as language barrier, social adaptation, teachers’ attitudes, and teaching materials; family-related factors as violence, financial problems and social integration; and teacher development.

Care Relations and Negotiation of Independence within the Context of Migration (The Case of the Turkish Community in London)

Care Relations and Negotiation of Independence within the Context of Migration (The Case of the Turkish Community in London)

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

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.

The Inventory of Problems–29 is a Cross-Culturally Valid Symptom Validity Test: Initial Validation in a Turkish Community Sample

Because the actuarial evidence base for symptom validity tests (SVTs) is developed in a specific population, it is unclear whether their clinical utility is transferable to a population with different demographic characteristics. To address this, we report here the validation study of a recently developed free-standing SVT, the Inventory of Problems-29 (IOP-29), in a Turkish community sample. We employed a mixed design with a simulation paradigm: The Turkish IOP–29 was presented to the same participants (N = 125; 53.6% female; age range: 19–53) three times in an online format, with instructions to respond honestly (HON), randomly (RND), and attempt to feign a psychiatric disorder (SIM) based on different vignettes. In the SIM condition, participants were presented with one of three scripts instructing them to feign either schizophrenia (SIM-SCZ), depression (SIM-DEP), or posttraumatic stress disorder (SIM-PTSD). As predicted, the Turkish IOP–29 is effective in discriminating between credible and noncredible presentations and equally sensitive to feigning of different psychiatric disorders: The standard cutoff (FDS ≥ .50) is uniformly sensitive (90.2% to 92.9%) and yields a specificity of 88%. Random responding produces FDS scores more similar to those of noncredible presentations, and the random responding score (RRS) has incremental validity in distinguishing random responding from feigned and honest responding. Our findings reveal that the classification accuracy of the IOP–29 is stable across administration languages, feigned clinical constructs, and geographic regions. Validation of the Turkish IOP–29 will be a valuable addition to the limited availability of SVTs in Turkish. We discuss limitations and future directions.

Ultrasonographic Evaluation of Normal Liver, Spleen, and Kidney Dimensions in a Healthy Turkish Community of Over 18 Years Old.

The dimensions of the liver, spleen, and kidneys either change in primary diseases related to these organs or in secondary diseases that indirectly affect them, such as diseases of the cardiovascular system. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the normal dimensions of the liver, kidneys, and spleen and their correlations with body mass index in healthy Turkish adults. A total of 1,918 adults older than 18 years of age underwent ultrasonographic (USG) examinations. Participants' age, sex, height, weight, BMI, liver, spleen, and kidney dimensions, biochemistry and haemogram results were recorded. The relationships between organ measurements and these parameters were examined. A total of 1,918 patients participated in the study. Of these, 987 (51.5%) were female and 931 (48.5%) were male. The mean age of the patients was 40.74± 15.95 years. The liver length (LL) for men was found to be greater than that for women. The effect of the sex factor on the LL value was statistically significant (p = 0.000). The difference between men and women in terms of liver depth (LD) was statistically significant (p=0.004). The difference between BMI groups in terms of splenic length (SL) was not statistically significant (p=0.583). The difference between BMI groups in terms of splenic thickness (ST) was statistically significant (p=0.016). We obtained the mean normal standard values of the liver, spleen, and kidneys in a healthy Turkish adult population. Consequently, values exceeding those in our findings will guide clinicians in the diagnosis of organomegaly and will contribute to filling the gap in this regard.

The Role of Temporary Education Centers on Syrian Refugee Students' Socio-cultural Adaptation

Temporary Education Centers (TECs), which closed in 2019, were established to ensure that Syrian students continue their interrupted education in their native language and slowly acquire the necessary Turkish language skills for social adaptation and transition to public schools. This qualitative study analyzes how these institutions, particularly their organizational structure, language education, and teachers’ perception, affect the socio-cultural adaptation of Syrian students in Turkish society. The data for this study were gathered through semi-structured interviews with Syrian and Turkish administrators and teachers, and Syrian students in a TEC. The collected data was analyzed using Critical Discourse Analysis. The findings indicate that Syrian students in TEC experience isolation from the Turkish community, therefore feel anxious about their social adaptation. Yet, Syrian and Turkish administrators do not share the same concerns with the Syrian students because of carrying different educational and social agendas. On the other hand, Syrian and Turkish teachers are mainly concerned about Syrian students’ social identity construction and educational achievement. This study explains the reasons for having various social adaptation expectations and argues that isolated educational institutions for refugees generate negative results for refugee students’ social adaptation.