The appearance of Afghan immigrants in the agricultural sector and its effects on the labor market

Türkiye has gained its migration experience through being a destination and transit country. Turkey is both the gateway to Europe for international immigrants and a place of refuge for those coming from the nearby Middle East and Asian countries, especially those experiencing instability, wars and poverty. Especially the 2011 Syrian humanitarian crisis and the subsequent refugee influx to Turkey is a breaking point in the recent history of migration. Although it does not occur suddenly and in large numbers, refugee and immigrant groups coming to Turkey through irregular migration have made Turkey the country hosting the most refugees over the years. Statistics show that Afghan nationals are in the first place among irregular immigrants caught in Turkey, especially after 2018. Since irregular immigrants have to continue their lives by working in the settlement where they reside, they have the potential to affect the labor markets of the country and the cities where they are concentrated. The jobs that immigrants do in the new country are shaped according to the structure of the labor markets and informality of the country they work in and the needs of the region. Immigrants are generally positioned in labor markets in labor-intensive and lowpaid jobs, in a spiral of insecurity that extends to labor exploitation. This study focuses on Afghan immigrant men who come to Manavgat district of Antalya irregularly for work purposes and become agricultural workers, in the context of their entry into the labor markets, their appearance in the agricultural sector and their effects on agricultural labor markets. Another focus of the study is employers who employ Afghan migrant workers in agricultural enterprises. Employers contributed to the research from a different perspective on the reasons for employing Afghan agricultural workers, the role of Afghan immigrants in agricultural production, and various regulatory demands. Thus, immigrant labor has been handled by both workers and employers in the agricultural sector and agricultural labor markets. The research was carried out with a qualitative design. In the research conducted in Manavgat district of Antalya, in-depth interviews were conducted with 25 Afghan immigrants and 5 employers using the snowball technique, one of the purposeful sampling techniques. A semistructured questionnaire was used during these interviews. The research was carried out in Manavgat district of Antalya. During the interviews, it was seen that Afghan immigrants' experiences of insecurity in the labor market also dominated their entire migration journey, and their migration processes were also included in the research xi analysis. Since Afghan immigrants migrate for economic reasons, they consent to the negative working conditions offered to them in the labor markets. Afghan workers working unregistered in greenhouses, where the local workforce does not want to work, represent cheap and desired labor for employers. The results of the research show that Afghan immigrants are an opportunity for Manavgat greenhouse cultivation and agricultural production and that they shoulder a great burden in agricultural production. Key Words: Immigrant, Labor Force, Agriculture, Insecurity, Employment