Turkey's position in the migration process from Afghanistan to Western countries: A study on Afghans in Trabzon

The subject of this thesis is to investigate Turkey's position as a destination country or a transit country to western countries for Afghan immigrants who migrated from Afghanistan to Turkey and staying in Trabzon in their migration processes. Positioned as a target and transit country by the immigrants during their migration process, the study aimed to understand how Afghan immigrants, also, positioned Turkey in this process. Qualitative research method was used in the study and a semi-structured interview was administrated to 20 participants who were Afghan immigrants currently staying in Trabzon. The interviews were organized and evaluated through the MAXQDA 2020 qualitative data analysis program. As a result of this thesis, it is understood that Afghan immigrants who are staying in Trabzon positioned Turkey as a transit country to pass to Western countries. At this point, it is determined that in their decisions to continue immigration mobility, the significant factor was the belief that access to basic rights and services would be better in Western countries compared to Turkey. It is also concluded that the network of relationships was the affective factor behind their comparison of the present conditions in Turkey and Western countries.