Social impacts of international population movements in the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey

This study is claimed that there is a migration system between Turkish Eastern Black Sea and Georgia which is based on border asymmetries. The primary purpose of the study is to define this migration system that dates back to one hundred and fifty years. Then, the social change dynamics of Turkish Eastern Black Sea after Sarpi Border gate was opened to movement in 1988 are examined by focusing on the transnational border movements of Turkish individual actors on the Sarpi Border. In terms of the conceptual and theoretical basis of the subject, migration systems and transnational migration approaches are selected as explanation tool in migration studies field. In addition, current criticisms about insufficiency of existing theories in the field of migration studies have been taken into account. To overcome this obstacle and make analysis stronger, Stephen Castles's proposal that "we should consider the social theory perspective in migration studies" has been followed. For this purpose, Zygmunt Bauman's modernity theory and Thorstein Veblen's idle concept were added to analyses. Furthermore, Sarpi Borderland has a unique type of population mobility which has not been defined in these all concept and theory sets. Because of that, a necessity to derive a new concept has arisen and this mobility has been named as circular border tourism. In order to achieve the defined objectives, first as historical background and border population movements related social change dynamics were examined on Turkey and Georgia borderlands. As a result of the analysis, two periods (they also correspond to Bauman's solid and liquid modern times definitions) that the closed border period separates each other were determined within the Eastern Black Sea-Georgia Migration System. The first period covers the population movements in the second half of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th century. The period's border asymmetries which are the determinants of immigration are economic structures differences in the region and the policies between the Ottoman and Russian Empires. The immigrant typology of the period consists mainly of migrant actors with economic motivation referred to as heroic adjectives and those who are encouraged (whether or not necessary) to migrate for political reasons. These migrations have also been evaluated as the subconscious appearance of current migration movements in terms of creating memory for current migration. The second period of the migration system, which coincides with the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, corresponds to the liquid phase of modernism defined by Bauman who explains his theory by emphasizing mobility in every sense (human, capital, commodity). The dominant reasons in this period's population mobility are border trade, labor supply, tourism and involvement in illegal. Considering the individual actors, the circulation for the Turkish population is concentrated in the areas of commercial and touristic mobility compared to the solid phase and creates a more anti-hero characters. If it is evaluated commercially in terms of the asymmetries of the border in this period, the Eastern Black Sea Region is the active place of trade until 2000s. After the 2000s, while commercial lines dominate by central provinces of Turkey and Georgia, commercial relations intensity shifted to Georgia in time. In addition, the urbanization of Batumi as a city of tourism and casinos has made the city a center of attraction for Turkish tourists. The Turkish style recurring tourism movement has evolved into a typology that expands the relationship networks and forcing the definition of tourism in the literature. The Turkish style recurring tourism movement (defined as new concept and named as circular border tourism in this study) has evolved into a typology that expands the transnational relationship networks and forcing the definition of tourism in the literature. When the population movements that took place since 1988 are evaluated in terms of social change, the meanings attributed to Turkish and Georgian identities have changed over time while the prejudices are sometimes broken and sometimes reproduced. Although a clear hierarchy does not occur between the Turkish and Georgian identities, there is an occasional demand of the Turkish population based on economic power. The most significant view of this situation is that Turks are employers and Georgians are employees in the unskilled labor market of Turkish Eastern Black Sea since 2000. This positioning, which seems to be in favor of the Turks at first glance, causes Turks to withdraw from unqualified jobs especially in the tea cultivation and to gain earnings without participating in production. The most important social cost of Turkish Eastern Black Sea type of idleness is the loss of labor skills and unemployment especially for the younger generation. In addition to all, as a result of transnational criminalization activities experienced at the Sarpi Borderland, the region has become a geography where transnational civil society practices (which have not been experienced before) are also performed. In short, this second liquid period mentioned is the internationalization period for the Eastern Black Sea Region. The study was finalized with a proposal for a multi actor (micro, macro and mezo) border management model integrated into Turkish and Georgian state systems. Priority requirement of the managment model was recommended as social research and social policy making-implementation in order to determine the problem and opportunity areas in more detail and to improve the current situation. Keywords: Turkish Eastern Black Sea -Georgia Migration System, circular border tourism , border trade, Sarpi Border, transnational migration