Urban integration of irregular Afghan migrants in İstanbul:|The case of the Yeni Mahalle neighborhood

Abstract

The main subject of this thesis is the survival/urban integration strategies of the irregular Afghan migrants living in Yeni Mahalle neighborhood of Istanbul in the absence of both state assistance and NGOs services. The existing academic studies on local and urban aspects of the migrants’ integration—particularly the ones dealing with Afghan migrants’ integration to Istanbul—seem to be inadequate. The thesis will explore how these young and mostly bachelor Afghan migrants have settled in Yeni Mahalle, how they create a living space for themselves, how they are integrated into the working life, how they are solving their daily problems, and how they develop their survival strategies based on keeping appropriate distance with the natives. It will start with a literature review on the factors affecting the migrants’ integration to host societies in general, and will particularly concentrate on the factors that influence the migrants’ integration to the cities. It will also provide an analysis of personal experiences of Afghan migrants by using in-depth interviews (individually and in groups) with young men (between the age of 17 and 35) from Faryap Province of Afghanistan.