The investigation of changes caused by migrations to Didim within the historical process in the context of tourism

Didyma first appeared on the stage of history as the Oracle Center of Miletus, one of the independent Ionian cities, and hosted many different civilizations throughout the history, and remained as a small Greek village under the rule of the Ottoman Empire until the Republican Period. After the signing of Lausanne Peace Treaty, the Greek population left the village in 1922. Following this period, the resettlements began in 1924 with Thessalonian immigrants, continued with Bulgarian immigrants in 1936, Eastern Anatolian immigrants between 1986 and 1989 due to dam projects in the East, and followed by tourism-led migrations after 1990s. Within this context, this study was conducted in order to understand the periods of change caused by migrations to Didyma, which could be referred to as the city of immigrants, and to understand the relationship between the changing communities and tourism. When examining the social dynamics created by communities that build the life in Didyma, and conceptualized as the migration stratum, and relationships between tourism, grounded theory approach was adopted to explain the events, actions, and interactions that occurred in due course. Within this framework, in-depth interviews were conducted with 42 participants, and it was observed that while local people do not take part in economic life and dynamism of Didyma, the Eastern Anatolian Immigrants and tourism-led immigrants dominate the economy of Didyma. On the other hand, the social processes created by migrations in Didyma were categorized as sociocultural, economic, and environmental processes