Sirkeci, Ibrahim et al.
Transnational Press London, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-910781-19-7
This book is the outcome of a collaborative writing exercise drawing upon a dozen of researches carried out by authors independently and jointly from 2011 to 2015 on Turkish, Kurdish and Turkish Cypriot diaspora populations in Britain, and particularly in London. It is a well round account of these particular immigrant populations from Turkey in the UK. Rich material covers official statistics, survey data as well as a wealth of narratives built upon hundreds of face-to-face interviews carried out in London and elsewhere in Britain. Each chapter looks into different aspects of the three populations ranging from political participation to employment relations to integration and identity formation, and from remittances to football and community life.
Turkish migration to British Isles has a long history but sizeable diaspora communities and enclaves of Turkish origin have emerged only in the last four to five decades. Earlier groups arrived were Cypriots fleeing the troubled island in the Eastern Mediterranean whilst Turks and Kurds of the mainland were not even considering the UK as a destination. This book is about these contemporary movers from Turkey, their movement trajectories, practices, and integration in Britain. Eight researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds and methodological schools came together to do the ground work for the students of this emerging subfield of human mobility studies. Turkey is now at the forefront of accommodating large scale inward mobility mostly due to the crisis in Syria and Iraq. This also brings some attention to Turkey’s own diasporic populations.
Kurdish Studies Network 