Migration and adaptation to the city; the case of Çay Mahallesi (Mersin)

As a result of the rapid growth of the population and mechanization in agriculture in Turkey, migration from rural areas to large areas began to occur since the 1950s. These unplanned migrations were towards big cities such as Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir in the first years. In the following years, other big cities such as Adana, Mersin and Antalya were affected by these migrations. In addition to many difficulties experienced during the migration process, children who migrated from rural areas to outside areas experienced difficulties in adapting to urban life. The aim of this study was to investigate the difficulties of the migration processes and the results of adaptation to the city from this exit point to the Çay neighborhood. Çay Mahallesi, which constitutes the study area, is a neighborhood of the Akdeniz district of Mersin city. The neighborhood was established especially in the late 1980s by communities who migrated from the rural areas of Eastern and Southeastern Anatolian regions. In this context, the main purpose is to investigate whether comprehensive areas provide coverage of cells that migrate and whether they encounter in the migration process. In this direction, the semi-search method, one of the qualitative research methods, was applied and meetings were held with 50 people who migrated to the Çay neighborhood. The interviews were analyzed with descriptive analysis method and content analysis method. The next process of migration and whether the migrating individuals can adapt to the city were investigated. As a result of the interviews, it was determined that the interviewees could not make use of the city's facilities sufficiently, that they could not adapt to the city, and that they went back if they had the opportunity. It has been concluded that education level and economic conditions are important factors in adapting to the city. Another result is that individuals with low educational level and low economic income cannot benefit from urban opportunities sufficiently. While the interviewees have a high level of belonging to the neighborhood they live in, they do not feel any help to the whole city and city life.