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Turkey has long been characterized as a country of emigration due to the large-scale migration of Turkish workers to Western Europe beginning in the 1960s. However, Turkey has also increasingly become a country of immigration in recent years. In fact, migra-tion to Turkey is not a new phenomenon: Migration movements had occurred during the Ottoman period and in the immediate years following the foundation of the Republic of Turkey. Yet, it must be stressed that these migratory movements differ both in terms of nature and scale. While former migration move-ments to Turkey consisted of migrants of Turkish ethnicity from neighboring countries, recent migra-tion to Turkey has become much more diverse. At the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and the European Union (EU), Turkey now faces various migration flows such as transit migrants, clandestine immigrant workers, high-skilled personnel, asylum seekers, and refugees from different countries. Among these migrant groups are also German citizens who have settled in Turkey for various reasons. Because of these new migration flows into the country, as well as the EU harmonization process, Turkey, willingly or not, has been forced to adapt its migration legislation. In rela-tion to this, Turkey has entered into a serious reform process in recent years, and many fundamental legal amendments have been made regarding the status of foreigners in Turkey. The Law on Work Permits for Foreigners (Law No. 4817) and Law on Foreigners and International Protection (Law No. 6458) are of significant importance concerning foreigners’ legal participation possibilities in Turkey. Based on the empirical findings of my Mercator-IPC Fellowship, this report investigates the possibilities of German citizens’ legal membership on the “Turkish side” of the transnational German-Turkish space from the migrant’s perspective. In doing so, this report also reflects upon some general characteristics of the Turkish migration policy.
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