The socio-cultural background of hopes and disappointment: Qualitative research on marriage satisfaction of Kazakhstan women's married to Turkish men

The foreign marriages of Kazakhstani women with Turkish men started to increase the socio-cultural, economic and political relationships between Kazakhstan and Turkey. These marriages have many interconnected structures, such as individual differences, ethnicity, cultural features, spouse values, gender roles and place of residence. This study, taking into account the language, culture and geographical differences between Kazakhstan and Turkey, there was an attempt to understand the marital satisfaction in foreign marriage between the citizens of these two countries, through the eyes of women, especially the Kazakhstani women who are the main actors in this marriage. More specifically, this study examined factors that play an important role in satisfying the marriage of Kazakhstani women; expectations of Kazakhstani women from this marriage and their experience after marriage; purposes for their marriage; understanding "Turkish men", "Marriage with Turkish men" in the perception of Kazakhstani women before marriage and after marriage; as well as the state of fulfillment of expectations in marriage were sociologically interpreted through the metaphor of "disappointment". The empirical data of the study were implemented in total with 22 Kazakhstani women living in Kazakhstan (Astana, Almaty, Shymkent, Atyrau) and Turkey (Ankara, Istanbul) in 2018 and 2019. An in-depth interview was chosen as the method of collecting information. As a result of the analysis of these data obtained during the interview, it turned out that in the marriage of Kazakh women with Turkish men, instrumental reasons are basic, in addition to love and mutual feelings of sympathy, their expectations to create a strong family with a good man, and these expectations are met. In addition, it was found that relations between spouses, their relations with the social environment, with family and relatives of both spouses and cultural factors (religion, daily life practices, traditions, and language) play a decisive role in marital satisfaction of Kazakhstani women. Discussing marital satisfaction of Kazakhstani women in the framework of theories of dynamic goals and theories of ecosystems, it's possible to conclude that although women married to foreigners encountered some problems and misunderstandings due to cultural differences that negatively affected their marital satisfaction, their expectations from marriages that have been fully implemented have a positive effect on their marital satisfaction. And also the justification of the reasons why they agreed to this marriage and the efforts of their Turkish spouses to make them happy, determine the marital satisfaction of Kazakhstani women positively. The results of this study were sociologically interpreted in the framework of the dynamic goals theory (Li and Fung; 2011) and the eco-system theory (Skowroński et al., 2014). Keywords: Marriage, foreign marriage, marriages between citizens of Kazakhstan and Turkey, marital satisfaction, relations between spouses, cultural factors.