ENTERING ITS SECOND YEAR GÖÇ.COM Engin Erkiner
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MIGRATION.COM Entering Its Second Year Engin Erkiner The history of humanity is also the history of migration. In this context, migration has been a component of every subject related to human beings. It is a rich field that will not be exhausted by telling, constantly changing and gaining new features. Let us first give some information about the website. According to the website administrators, 68 per cent of the readers are from Turkey (Istanbul and Izmir stand out here), 11 per cent from Switzerland (Zurich and Bern stand out), 10 per cent from Germany. France, the Netherlands, the UK, Canada, Sweden, Sweden, Austria and Denmark follow in decreasing percentages. In Turkey, after Istanbul and Izmir, Ankara, Diyarbakır, Antalya, Adana, Mersin and Adana are the following cities. According to the information received from the website management, academics interested in migration also follow the website. It was inevitable that migration would be an important area of interest in academic research because Turkey, which has been mainly an emigrant country since the 1960s, has become an emigrant receiving and emigrant country in the last decade. Although the interest in this website, which I have been writing almost every week since its establishment, is good, there are important problems that need to be overcome. The most important of these is the lack of information on migration. What is meant here is not statistical information. How many people came, what nationalities they were from; how many It is not difficult to find out who travelled and which countries they went to. The real problem is to follow the changing characteristics of migration over the years and to reflect them in the articles. This necessitates theoretical education on migration. The innovation I was able to bring to the articles on the website was on the subject of exile. Although the history of exile in the country started before 12 September, mass exile started afterwards and continued for years with decreasing numbers and still continues. Exile is a special category of migration. In the 20th century, there are few countries that have not sent exiles. The most prominent of these was the Nazi period. Germany. Each country's exile has its own characteristics, and so do the exiles from Turkey. Although I have analysed the subject in several articles, I have to state that these are not enough. We have said that the characteristics of migration are constantly changing. You cannot conduct up-to-date research on migration without following this change. To give an example: What was said in a secret meeting of the far-right party AfD in Germany was leaked to the press. The AfD plans to deport all immigrants, including those with German citizenship. I was astonished to see some authors writing about this on different websites. Germany 30 is not the country it was years ago. People of immigrant origin are present in almost all areas of society - including politics. Apparently the AfD will also expel Cem Özdemir, Minister of Agriculture in the SPD-Greens-FDP coalition government! Even in the Christian Democratic CDU there are many members with a migrant background and even party leaders at various levels. Immigrants do not only change themselves, they also change the country they live in. The changes in Germany over the last 30 years are a clear example of this, and similar changes are taking place in other countries as well. The AfD cannot be expected to see this, but we must be able to see it. From here we can move on to the little-studied topic of migrant identity. How have the identities of Turks and Kurds who have lived in European countries for 40 years or more changed? If you want to analyse the subject, you have to know Homi K. Bhabha's theory of hybrid identity. The phrase "we were foreigners and became immigrants", which was widely used some thirty years ago, says very little today. It is possible to list the issues that need to be emphasised and developed in relation to migration as follows. Firstly, we should avoid generalisations as much as possible and focus on our own specificities. to try to get to the bottom of it. Migration from each country - and its specific form of migration exile has distinctive features. These should be highlighted. Secondly, what people have produced during migration. The literature, music, painting produced by immigrants in Germany, where the number of immigrants from Turkey is the highest... It is interesting to note that it was a German named Martin Greve who conducted research on Turkish music outside the country based on Berlin and Basel. I had published an interview on the subject in the 108th issue of Yazın Magazine in 2005. In the 80th issue of the same magazine in 1998, my article titled "Our Migrant Identity" was published. I reread it and realised that 25 years later, there are sections that need to be expanded. Thirdly, what does it mean to be German? Being a citizen of Germany and being German different. How does the interweaving of identities manifest itself in different cases? The same question can be asked about France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden and other countries, and the interweaving of identities in these countries will be different. Other issues can be added. The migrant changes both himself/herself and the society in which he/she lives. One cannot analyse the topic without seeing this change and without knowing a little about the theory. Do not hesitate, every subject can be learnt. The problem is to know what to learn and to work tirelessly. I wish Göç.com higher success in its second year of publication.
