On Turkey's Internal Migration Issue

The issue of internal migration is one of the main issues that people and decision-makers largely push back in their list of priorities or do not take seriously. Internal migration, in rough terms, refers to migrations made within the borders of a country. There are four forms of it: rural to rural, rural to urban, urban to rural, and urban to urban. Many reasons can cause internal migration. In addition to reasons such as education, job opportunities, and even marriage, problems caused by climate change, natural disasters, and economic difficulties are also among the reasons for internal migration. Turkey has been experiencing a large internal migration since its establishment - especially in the years when it made industrial breakthroughs. Essentially, not much has changed since the days when it was often conceptualized as "migration from village to city," depicted humorously in Kemal Sunal films. Today, in many provinces, there is still a rush from villages to nearby districts, from districts to central districts, and from there to metropolises. For example, if you talk to a villager living in a village of Ayvacık district of Çanakkale, you will see that if given the opportunity, they have bought or want to buy a house in nearby Küçükkuyu or Ayvacık. Those living in Ayvacık are after buying a house from Çanakkale. It is very likely to see that at least one person from the families of those living in the center of Çanakkale resides in big cities like Istanbul and Ankara for various purposes.

Many might say, "What's wrong with that, there's nothing wrong." However, the issue is not exactly like that. Although the first issue that comes to mind is the emptying villages and its negative effect on agricultural production in particular, uncontrolled internal migrations have severe effects on the country's economy, sociology, and politics. As I will briefly mention in the rest of the article, Iran is almost like a laboratory in this regard. Migrations to our country from outside, from other countries, are detected quite quickly by the society due to ethnic differences, linguistic/religious differences, and sociological differences, and are negatively received with the effect of feelings of belonging. This issue usually comes to the agenda with issues such as cities becoming crowded, rents rising, infrastructure starting to be strained, city capacity being exceeded, and unemployment increasing. Indeed, it is true. Migrations from outside to our country have serious effects on all of these. However, it should not be forgotten that internal migrations have similar effects.

The issue of internal migration is generally thought of as a simple "relocation". A citizen of a country can move from one place to another as they wish. Yes, when viewed individually, this issue seems quite simple and clear. However, when viewed on a macro basis, this is not such a "simple" issue. First of all, the first visible reflection of uncontrolled internal migration is slumification. The issue of slumification is one of Turkey's serious problems, and in fact, the bitter truth behind construction companies doing such enormously profitable business lies here. To put it bluntly, two contractors didn't just get up and tear Istanbul apart on their own. Istanbul has a slumification problem that spans decades. This creates a demand for accommodation needs. It is obvious that someone will definitely offer a supply to meet this demand. The corruptions and illegalities experienced during this process are another matter. The main issue is creating a supply against demand.

Cities that become slums overflow and many problems such as infrastructure inadequacy, public order problems, and unemployment come along. For example, if it is not known exactly how many people live where, municipalities have problems in making water planning, providing sewage services, and providing transportation. From collecting garbage to buses to ride, there are problems in every area, which is the problem of many provinces today, especially Istanbul. People are on top of each other everywhere from public transportation to main streets, and municipalities have to make a great effort to provide services and create resources. Unemployment becomes a big issue in slum areas. Public order deteriorates rapidly. Many problems, especially fraud, begin to be experienced. Environmental problems occur. I'm not even getting into issues like noise and light pollution.

Wealthy segments either create alternative living spaces (See Istanbul-Göktürk) or leave the country altogether. In short, there is a domino effect where everyone coming from bottom to top pushes the one in the place they came from to another place. The migration from our country to the outside is directly related to this. Everyone wants to live in a more "livable" place. They want to live their lives in cities where unemployment is low, public order is ensured in all aspects, educational opportunities are high, infrastructure is strong, and transportation is easier. It's not difficult to understand people's search for this when even the cat at home moves away from where it feels uncomfortable and settles somewhere else. Therefore, the issue of internal migration should not be considered simply as a citizen moving to any place they want in their own country. This issue is the first domino of a long domino effect.

Like Turkey, Iran is struggling with the problem of internal migration and the issue is more serious than in Turkey. According to the 2016 census, the proportion of the population living in cities in Iran has reached 74%. Today, this number can be thought to be much higher, as dozens of social events, climate-related natural disasters, and many other issues have been experienced in Iran since then. Today, there are problems in providing water to many places in Iran. Water cuts are taking place in provinces, public order problems are rising, unemployment is peaking, and some of the impoverished people are resorting to ways such as smuggling, drugs, prostitution, and fraud to survive. It would be a mistake to look for the cause of all these problems only in the West's sanctions against Iran. Because Iran has many internal problems. In addition to dust storms, drought, and flood disasters due to climate, many large and small issues such as air pollution and access to quality education have destroyed local economies in Iran and emptied the countryside. People in smaller cities are migrating to places like Tehran, Tabriz, Mashhad, Isfahan in search of a "better life". There is serious slumification in these places. It would be wrong, but very incomplete, to consider the reaction of the society in the Mahsa Amini issue as just a reaction "shown against the death of a girl who didn't want to wear a hijab". Because the main problem of the people is the issues I mentioned above. Today, even getting on the Tehran metro has become impossible due to the crowd. There are serious problems in many issues from transportation to drinking water, and people blame the political will for this. However, the main issue is unmanaged internal migration, rather than the political system.

Wealthy families of the overflowing Tehran have created alternative living spaces in the north of Tehran. After Tehran's increasingly struggling with the problem of slumification, new settlements have begun to open in Mazandaran and Gilan, located in the north of Iran and famous for their nature. This has brought along a serious level of nature destruction. This is similar to what is happening on the Aegean coasts of our country. The migrations from Iran to Turkey should be considered from this aspect. Because now that slumification makes cities uninhabitable, the metropolises of other countries seem more attractive. However, this situation naturally makes other major metropolises in the world uninhabitable as well.

As a result, Turkey has been experiencing an internal migration problem for decades due to problems such as major disasters like the earthquake disasters it has experienced, the concentration of job opportunities in big cities, and the climate issue now showing itself more and more. This problem affects the country at least as much as refugees coming from outside and becomes the first cause of major problems. It is obvious that if decision-makers and the public do not prioritize this issue, they will start to struggle with the other stones that this domino stone has knocked down, and they will struggle with other problems that this problem will cause in a cycle. This will bring along social events and chaos. For this reason, the issue of internal migration should be considered as a real national security issue and humane solutions should be considered and implemented on it.