Issues in Countries of the Former Soviet Union as the Driving Force for Female Migration to Turkey

The article presents the results and conclusions of a postdoctoral research project entitled “The migration of women from former Soviet Union countries to Turkey: differences, similarities, and outcomes” that has been conducted in Turkey among women from countries of the former Soviet Union with the aim of exploring the issues in these countries as the driving force for female migration to Turkey and also the causes, problems, difficulties, opportunities, prospects, achievements and outcomes of female migrants in the host country. The basis of this scientific project was semi-structured interviews and focus groups among women from former Soviet Union countries in Turkey.


INTRODUCTION
Economic, political crises, wars, revolutions, unemployment, poverty, low wages and pensions in countries of the former Soviet Union force women from these countries to look for better prospects in Turkey. Did they receive everything what they wanted in this host country or not, when they came to Turkey? Of course, key issues for these women when they plan to go to Turkey are their desires and expectations in the host country and also their level of education, culture and moral principles in general. If women plan to go to Turkey without knowledge of the Turkish language and Laws, without any official contracts for jobs and without any support from anybody in the host country, almost certainly they will face problems of violence, discrimination, sexual harassment, abuse, slavery, prostitution etc. If women plan to marry Turkish men, they will face challenges relating to religion, education, culture and social status of the family they will join. So, our goals were to explore the most common problems for women from countries of the former Soviet Union in the host country.

THE FRAMEWORK OF THE SCIENTIFIC PROJECT
In the framework of this scientific project we met hundreds of women from almost all countries of the former Soviet Union, except women from Tajikistan. We held semi-structured interviews with them and also focus-groups. We spoke with women with differing levels of education and culture and with different social statuses due to statuses according to the status of their husbands in Turkey, but there is one thing that unites them, -the fear and the uncertainty about their future in the host country.

DATA AND METHODOLOGY
In this article we used primary statistical data collected from interviews with female migrants from countries of the former Soviet Union in Turkey, using methodology in our research that consisted of qualitative research methods (field research; participant observations; semi-structured interviews; and focus group interviews), and also methods of economic analysis with the goal of analyzing and explaining the phenomenon of female migration from countries of the former Soviet Union in Turkey.

HOW DID THE MIGRATION OF WOMEN TO TURKEY FROM COUNTRIES THE FORMER SOVIET UNION START?
After the fall of the "Iron Curtain" in the Soviet Union many women from former Soviet Union countries started exploring new opportunities for living abroad. Many women, who came to Turkey twenty or more years ago, were without knowledge of the Turkish language and without any rights to work officially in the host country, and they began to work as prostitutes. Because of this the host country still remembers the phenomenon of 'Natasha'. Some of these first women from former Soviet Union countries were deported from Turkey, some became as wives of Turkish men, and some of them found better opportunities for life in other countries, but the reputation of 'Natasha' is still alive in Turkey, and this phenomenon adversely affects the lives of next generation of women from former Soviet Union countries in the host country.

WHY DID THE MIGRATION OF WOMEN TO TURKEY FROM COUNTRIES OF FORMER SOVIET UNION START?
The migration of women from former Soviet Union countries to Turkey started because of very big economic problems in the countries of origin of these women. The analysis of minimum wages in Turkey and former Soviet Union countries can show and confirm this. A minimum wage is the lowest daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labor. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in many jurisdictions, differences of opinion exist about the benefits and drawbacks of a minimum wage [1]. Supporters of the minimum wage say it increases the standard of living of workers, reduces poverty, reduces inequality, and boosts morale and forces businesses to be more efficient [2]. The majority of former Soviet Union countries in 2014 had lower minimum wages than Turkey ( Fig. 1).  The differences in minimum wages of Turkey and Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania are not so big because currently the last three countries are members of the European Union. Table 2 compares, analyses and ranks the minimum wages in Turkey, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Kazakhstan in 2014 in USD. explain, why women from former Soviet Union countries try to find better opportunities in the host country.
The comparison of differences in the minimum wages of Turkey and Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan in 2014 is in Table 3. We would also like to compare GDP per capita (USD) between Turkey and former Soviet Union countries during the period 2009-2013.

THE GDP PER CAPITA IN TURKEY AND FORMER SOVIET UNION COUNTRIES DURING THE PERIOD 2009-2013
According to the Conference Board of Canada, income per capita is the most frequently used statistic for comparing economic well-being across countries. It is calculated as gross domestic product (GDP) per capita -it is not a measure of personal income. Therefore, income per capita measures the value of goods and services exchanged in the marketplace. High performance in this category, either in terms of growth or the level of per capita income, does not guarantee a high quality of life. Nevertheless, a country that is not generating enough income for its citizens is hampered in what it can do on the environmental and social fronts [4]. According to Investopedia, a measure of the total output of a country takes the gross domestic product (GDP) and divides it by the number of people in that country. The per capita GDP is especially useful when comparing one country to another because it shows the relative performance of the countries. A rise in per capita GDP signals growth in the economy and tends to translate as an increase in productivity [5]. In Table 4 were compared the GDP per capita in Turkey and former Soviet Union countries during the period 2009-2013 (USD). Figure 2 was drawn using data from the World Bank [6], and this figure shows differences between the GDP per capita in Turkey and former Soviet Union countries in 2013 (USD) (Fig. 2). The data in Fig. 2

OTHER REASONS FOR WOMEN COMING TO TURKEY FROM COUNTRIES OF THE FORMER SOVIET UNION
We have already explored that the minimum wage and GDP per capita in Turkey is high in comparison with almost all countries of the former Soviet Union. But in addition to economic problems, there are other problems such as wars in Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine etc., and some women are refugees due to this. The next reason is the desire to marry. The majority of interviewed women are married, and it seems this was their main reason for coming to Turkey. How did they find their husbands? During tourist tours and seasonal work in Turkey (for example, Antalya); in their countries of origin because there are many Turkish companies in tourism, building, oil and gas areas of economy; by the Internet, friends or acquaintances etc. But if their desire to marry was achieved, some of them have encountered other kinds of problems that impact on their lives in the host country:  . Therefore these women -wives or widows of Turkish men have entitlement to social insurance or part of the pension of their husbands.

CONCLUSIONS
Issues in countries of the former Soviet Union, -economic, political crises, wars, unemployment, poverty, low wages and pensions are driving mechanisms that stimulate female migration to Turkey from their countries of origin. In the framework of our scientific project we held semi-structured interviews and focus-groups with women of different levels of education and culture, and different social statuses according to the status of their husbands in Turkey, but the majority of them are not sure about their future in the host country. According to the results of our investigations, the majority of women from countries of the former Soviet Union came to Turkey with the desire to marry, but after their marriage some of them encountered other problems relating to Turkish traditions and the Muslim Religion. Therefore for some women it is very difficult to adapt and integrate into Turkish society and families. These women need psychological, physical, financial and legal help and support in the host country because the majority of them do not know Laws or even the language of the host country.