Cross-Border Activities and Transnational Identification of Turkish Migrants in Europe

Abstract

This paper reports preliminary results on the interplay of cross-border practices and transnational identifications for Turkish migrants living in Denmark, Germany, Italy, Romania and the United Kingdom surveyed in the FP7 EUCROSS project. Quantitative data were collected by telephone and face-to-face surveys with 250 Turkish migrants in each of the five countries of residence. In addition, qualitative interviews were conducted with 10 Turkish migrants in each country. We find remarkable differences between Turkish migrant groups in the surveyed countries both with respect to background variables, such as duration of sojourn, education and migration motives, and cross-border activities, such as travel experiences, friendship networks and communication abroad. Our analysis shows that the experience of cross-border activities did not influence the respondents’ stance towards supra national entities, such as the European Union or the World as such. This might be due to the fact that the individuals surveyed here did not differ in the most important mobility experience: the migration to another country. A specific “Schengen area” effect on European identification did not emerge from our data. Quite the contrary: those respondents who live outside the Schengen zone (i.e., in the United Kingdom and Romania) are among those who identified most strongly with Europe. Moreover, most of the interviewed Turkish nationals were more likely to state a pronounced cosmopolitan stance than a strong identification with Europe. However, this might not come as an surprise, as the full rights associated with European citizenship have not yet been awarded to Turkish nationals in EU member states.