Between Western Europe and the Middle East: changing patterns of Turkish labour migration

The authors examine Turkish labor migration to Western Europe prior to 1973 and to the Middle East since that date. "The growth, organization and characteristics of these two phases in Turkish migration history are compared and contrasted. Particular emphasis is paid to the patterns of migrant worker origin and rates of emigration in the two periods. During the period 1961-73 the pattern of migration was dominated by the metropolitan and developed areas of Western Turkey. The re-direction of migration to Saudi Arabia, Libya and Iraq has been accompanied by a contraction and eastward shift in the main areas of migrant origins. Developments in the pattern of migrant worker origins are related to changes in the skill composition of the migrants and the mechanisms of the migration process. Opportunities for the employment of Turkish workers in the Arab world appear to have peaked and, although it has produced some short-term financial advantages, it has had little effect on Turkey's employment problems." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND TUR)